Promising results in the fight against metastatic pancreatic cancer – KISS FM

This was revealed in a clinical trial conducted by the Vall d’Hebron Oncology Institute in Barcelona, ​​which combines immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

This project, called Optimization-1, is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of combining a CD40 agonist with chemotherapy in patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, one of the tumors (uncontrolled cell growth) with the worst prognosis, hospital sources indicate.

CD40 agonist antibodies are drugs that can stimulate various immune cells against tumor cellsThus, we move from an immunosuppressed tumor microenvironment that prevents adequate penetration of therapeutic molecules and immune cells to a microenvironment capable of activating a potent immune response against the tumor.

“It’s like pressing the accelerator of the patient’s immune system. “We evaluated this antitumor activity in combination with chemotherapy in the study.”– explained Dr. Teresa Macarulla, oncologist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona.

The results of the study show that In this study, the objective response rate was 40%, the median duration of response was 12.5 months, and the median overall survival was 14.3 months.

“These are really promising results considering that we currently do not have effective therapeutic strategies for these patients, so it is essential that we continue to explore new options.”said the head of the group of tumors of the upper gastrointestinal tract and endocrine system.

The Optimize-1 study included 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. that in four out of ten cases tumor shrinkage was observed 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 are the results that current forecasts are improvinggiven that the current average overall survival for 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.”– said Dr. Makarulla.

Compilation. (Agencies).