The double combo makes cancer cells unable to escape, and the "Science" sub-journal is expected to bring new anti-cancer treatments

▎WuXi AppTec Content Team Editor Recently, a study in Science-Translational Medicine demonstrated clinical results of a new combination therapy, using both immunotherapy and targeted drugs to effectively prolong survival in patients with advanced kidney cancer , reduce the rate of cancer recurrence
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The combination therapy tested in the study consists of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab, a PD-1 inhibitor approved for cancer treatment, and the laboratory drug sitravatinib, a class of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

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Administered by injection, nivolumab inhibits the immune evasion mechanism of cancer cells, allowing immune cells to do their job of eliminating cancer cells again
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Sitravatinib cuts off the tumor's blood supply, thereby reducing the tumor's nutrient supply and starving the cancer cells
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Immunotherapy can be effective in stopping tumor progression in some cancer patients, but over time, immune-suppressed bone marrow cells accumulate and eventually patients develop drug resistance
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The addition of sitravatinib appears to be able to offset some of these shortcomings in immunotherapy
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Image Credit: 123RF "Sitravatinib has independent anticancer effects in clear cell renal cancer and can also enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy," said Dr.
Pavlos Msaouel, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
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He and colleagues recruited 42 patients with advanced kidney cancer who had not previously used immunotherapy, but other treatments had failed and the cancer had returned
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The research team gave them a standard dose of nivolumab and tested different doses of sitravatinib
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Based on patient response, study finalizes optimal dose of sitravatinib
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According to the long-term follow-up results, 80% of patients were still alive after 19 months of receiving the combination of the two drugs, and the average cancer progression-free period reached 12 months
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It is worth noting that the volunteers who participated in the trial had already developed liver metastases, but after the combination therapy, the metastatic tumors of 8 patients continued to decrease, and this process lasted for about 6 months
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Overall, survival was better with the combination than with nivolumab alone
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▲Sitravatinib can effectively deal with liver metastases after adding (Image source: Reference [2]) The study pointed out that this phase 1-2 trial showed that sitravatinib can be safely and effectively combined with the standard immunotherapy drug nivolumab to improve kidney cancer.
Anticancer response of patients
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"We are currently conducting additional Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials to test the effect of the two drug combinations in different cancers," said Dr.
Msaouel
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The researchers speculate that, in addition to cutting off the tumor's blood supply, sitravatinib may also reduce the degree of immune system limitation
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In the future, the researchers will further study the effect of this combination therapy, which is likely to become another treatment option for patients with advanced kidney cancer
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Reference: [1] New combo immunotherapy prolongs survival in patients with advanced kidney cancer.
Retrieved Apr 26th, 2022 from https://medicalxpress.
com/news/2022-04-combo-immunotherapy-prolongs-survival-patients.
html[ 2] Pavlos Msaouel et al, A phase 1-2 trial of sitravatinib and nivolumab in clear cell renal cell carcinoma following progression on antiangiogenic therapy, Science Translational Medicine (2022).
DOI: 10.
1126/scitranslmed.
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