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Immunotherapy could help patients with head and neck cancer live longer, according to a new study.
According to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, pembrolizumab, a drug used in combination with platinum chemotherapy, has prolonged the survival of patients whose disease had returned or s & # 39; 39 is widespread.
The treatment, which stimulates the immune system to recognize and fight cancer, has also been shown to be effective in some patients and has produced fewer side effects than "aggressive" chemotherapy.
The results of the study, conducted by the Cancer Institute and Royal Marsden in London, suggest that immunotherapy is a better first-line treatment for people with an advanced form of the disease, the researchers said.
Currently, patients with head and neck cancer who have returned or spread have received two chemotherapy drugs and targeted antibody therapy.
Professor Paul Workman, Director of the London Cancer Institute, who conducted this study, said: "Immunotherapy has already revolutionized the outlook for patients with melanoma and shows tremendous prospects for other types of cancer. Cancer.
"According to the results of the new clinical trial, pembrolizumab should do the same for people diagnosed with recurrent cancer of the head and neck. Until now, immunotherapy has been tested in patients with head and neck cancer only at a later stage of treatment, while the others treatments had stopped working.
"I wish to see new innovative treatments evaluated earlier during treatment, where the potential benefits may be greater, and it's great news that, in this case, pembrolizumab actually proves effective at stage of the first line. "
The trial included 882 patients with advanced cancer of the head and neck.
An immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab, was administered to 301 patients, 281 were treated with immunotherapy and chemotherapy and 300 received chemotherapy.
People with high levels of PD-L1 immune marker – present in the majority of patients – who received an association of immunotherapy and chemotherapy experienced an average of 14.7 months, the study found. This compared to 11 months in those who received chemotherapy alone.
The results also show that 33% of patients with high levels of immune marker who received combination therapy were still alive after three years, compared to only 8% of those who received chemotherapy. Patients with lower levels of PD-L1 also benefited, living on average 13.6 months, compared to 10.4 months for those who had undergone chemotherapy.
The study found that only 17% of patients receiving immunotherapy alone responded to treatment, compared with 36% of those who received chemotherapy. However, those who responded to pembrolizumab in this group lived an average of 18.1 months longer than those who experienced only chemotherapy.
Professor Kevin Harrington, of the Institute of Cancer and Royal Marsden, said, "Patients with advanced head and neck cancer are currently receiving extremely aggressive chemotherapy. I hope that the results of our test will soon be translated into pembrolizumab approval of the NHS so that patients can start benefiting from the start of treatment.
"We can imagine that many patients could be treated with pembrolizumab alone, which gives them the dual benefit of prolonged survival and fewer side effects. If necessary, some patients might need a combination of pembrolizumab and chemotherapy and we now know that this can be very beneficial. "
Head and neck cancers are relatively rare, with around 12,000 cases diagnosed in the UK each year, according to the NHS.
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