Treatment of melanoma: two promising drugs
Scientists: great success has been achieved in the fight against skin cancer
Both studies were aimed at helping the immune system recognize late-stage melanoma and attack it. The effect of experimental drugs, pembrolizumab and nivolumab, is aimed at stimulating the immune system to fight cancer cells. The results of the trials were announced at the conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
Experimental drugs pembrolizumab and nivolumab block the biological mechanism by which a cancerous tumor deceives the immune system. This mechanism is called PD1. Melanoma has always been considered one of the most difficult types of cancer, which quickly affects other organs and is difficult to treat.
Life extensionUntil recently, the average survival time after the diagnosis of melanoma did not exceed six months.
411 patients participated in the study evaluating the capabilities of the drug pembrolizumab. Their survival rate during the year was 69%.
The first drug, also known as MK-3475, is also being tested against other types of tumors that use the same mechanism to neutralize the immune system response.
Dr. David Chao, consultant oncologist at the Royal Free Hospital in London, conducts clinical trials on patients suffering from both melanoma and various types of lung cancer. "Pembrolizumab seems to be a drug that can make a revolution in the treatment of cancer," says the medic.
One of his patients, 64-year-old Warwick Steele, has been injected with pembrolizumab every three weeks since October last year. Before the start of treatment, he could barely stand on his feet, as the melanoma had spread to one of his lungs and it was difficult for him to breathe. "I was tired of the slightest movements, but now I feel almost normal and can even do gardening and go to the store," says the patient.
The scan (in the pictures) showed that after the administration of only three doses of the drug, the metastases completely disappeared from the lungs.
The picture on the left shows the spread of the tumor in the lung.
In the picture on the right, the tumor has completely disappeared
Another drug, nivolumab, was tested in combination with the existing immunotherapy drug ipilimumab. 53 patients participated in the study, the survival rate was 85% within one year and 79% after two years.
Professor Peter Johnson, head of the British study, said: "It's nice to know that a number of new treatments give hope to people with advanced stage melanoma."
Caution is neededHowever, doctors urge caution.
The published results relate to the early stage of research. Much broader studies in the third stage are already being conducted with the participation of many British hospitals. Their results will be published in about a year, and only then will clinicians be able to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of new drugs.
Like any medications, new anti-cancer drugs have side effects. Warwick Steele says he fainted twice after taking a new medication, and at night he suffers from profuse sweating. But, according to him, it is possible to cope with these symptoms, and the overall effect of using the medicine pleases him.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru04.06.2014