Early immunotherapy may be the most effective treatment for cervical cancer, researchers say | Top Vip News

Immunotherapy may be the most effective treatment for cervical cancer when used early in the course of the disease, according to a research article.

The article, published in the Gynecological Oncology magazinenoted that despite the availability of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, cervical cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer mortality among women in low- and middle-income countries.

In India, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women, accounting for about 18% of new cancer cases, estimated the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the agency’s cancer agency. WHO.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved pembrolizumab immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy and radiation therapy for the treatment of locally advanced disease, the researchers said.

New therapeutic approaches for cervical cancer include combinations of immunotherapy and targeted agents, they said.

Immunotherapy aims to harness the power of the immune system to help eradicate cancer cells. It has a different side effect profile than traditional chemotherapy and may be better tolerated, said Eugenia Girda, a gynecologic oncologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Jersey, USA, and lead author of the paper.

View | What is the human papillomavirus vaccine?

Cervical cancer is usually caused by HPV. The HPV vaccine remains the most important tool to help prevent this disease, Girda said.

“Combining pembrolizumab with chemotherapy, with or without the anticancer drug bevacizumab, significantly reduced the risk of death among patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer,” the authors noted.

“Immunotherapy may be more effective when used earlier in the course of treatment. In locally advanced cervical cancer, adding immunotherapy to chemoradiation has been shown to provide additional benefit and the hope is that more patients can be cured with this approach,” they said.

This has been shown both in recurrent metastatic disease, when immunotherapy is combined with chemotherapy, and in the primary setting for the treatment of locally advanced disease, the researchers said.

Studies are underway to identify patients most likely to benefit from immunotherapy.

Multiple studies have shown that the HPV vaccine is safe, effective and should be administered before HPV infection occurs, the researchers said.

“Therefore, we need to improve HPV vaccine uptake to completely eradicate cervical cancer; this has probably already been done successfully in some countries,” they added.