A study in Vall d’Hebron shows promising results in the treatment of aggressive pancreatic cancer.

A clinical trial conducted by the Vall d’Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO), in which combination immunotherapy and chemotherapyshowed Promising results in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer: On average, four out of ten patients experienced tumor shrinkage after one year. This project was called “Optimization-1” and was published in a scientific journal. Lancet oncologyis evaluating the safety and effectiveness of combining a CD40 agonist with chemotherapy in patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, one of the most aggressive types of pancreatic cancer with the worst prognosis.

The study results show that in this study the objective response rate was 40% and the median duration of response was 12.5 months and median overall survival 14.3 months.. “These are really promising results when you consider that we currently do not have effective therapeutic strategies for these patients, so it is imperative that we continue to explore new possibilities,” said Dr. Teresa Macarulla, medical oncologist at Val d’University. ‘Ebron. Hospital in Barcelona.

CD40 agonist antibodies are drugs that can stimulate various immune cells against tumor cells. “It’s like stepping on the accelerator of the patient’s immune system.. This antitumor activity added to chemotherapy is what we assessed in the study,” explains the head of the upper gastrointestinal and endocrine tumors group. Immunotherapy has revolutionized oncology in recent decades by activating the patient’s immune system against tumor cells, although it still does so. does not work in all patients or all tumor types, in part due to difficulties associated with the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

The Optimize-1 study enrolled 77 patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who had not previously received chemotherapy or were newly diagnosed. They all received a combination of CD40 IgG1 agonist antibody and chemotherapy, resulting in an objective response rate of 40%, i.e. In four out of four cases, the tumor shrank during treatment.. Similarly, the median duration of response was 12.5 months, and progression-free survival reached a median of 7.7 months with a median overall survival of 14.3 months.

These results improve current prognosis, since the current average overall survival of metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma from the time the cancer first appears in the body is less than one year. “This opens the door to studying this combination in a phase 3 clinical trial to confirm its effectiveness in a larger number of patients,” Dr. Makarulla said. The results of this study were presented at the American Society of Medical Oncology (ASCO) Congress, which took place from May 31 to June 4, and were simultaneously published in the journal. Lancet oncology.