The Lancet: studies have shown that checkpoint inhibitors can prolong the survival of some head and neck cancer patients

Feb 14, 2020 / bioun / -- according to a new global study led by Yale Cancer Center (YCC), checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (keytruda) increases the survival time of patients with advanced head and neck cancer The data was recently published in the lancet The results of the phase 3 study showed a significant improvement in overall survival in patients with previously untreated recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer compared to standard treatment Photo source: https://cn.bing.com "this study shows that whether there is chemotherapy or not, this checkpoint inhibitor should be the first drug to treat this kind of cancer," said Dr Barbara Burtness, chief researcher, Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and joint director of YCC development therapeutics "This is a very positive development in the treatment of our patients "Burtness added that the early results of this clinical trial (keynote-048) led the FDA earlier this year to approve pembrolizumab as a first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, including oral, oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers Burtness pointed out that although the median survival benefit was calculated on a monthly basis, some patients who received pembrolizumab lived longer and had significantly better quality of life than those who did not receive checkpoint inhibitor treatment The study looked at 882 participants from 200 medical centers in 37 countries who were randomly assigned to three different groups: those receiving pembrolizumab, those receiving pembrolizumab and chemotherapy, and those receiving cetuximab and chemotherapy Cetuximab is a drug used to inhibit a protein that makes cancer cells more responsive to growth factors The chemotherapy drugs were platinum and 5-fluorouracil Pembrolizumab alone increased the mean survival to 14.9 months, compared with 10.7 months for standard therapy Pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy increased the average survival time to 13 months In addition, the difference in survival between patients treated with pembrolizumab and those not treated with pembrolizumab remained significant years later The researchers found that three years later, 33% of the patients who received pembrolizumab alone survived, compared with about 26% of the patients in the pembrolizumab / chemotherapy group and only 8% of the patients in the standard treatment group "The difference with immunotherapy is the persistence of its impact on survival," says Burtness "These drugs seem to have changed the tumor microenvironment and the natural history of cancer "Patients treated with pembrolizumab alone had fewer side effects, while participants in the other two groups had roughly the same level of side effects Reference materials: Barbara Burtness et al Pembrolizumab alone or with chemotherapy versus cetuximab with chemotherapy for recurrent or metallic squares cell carcinoma of the head and neck (keynote-048): a random, open label, phase 3 study, the lancet (2019) Doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736 (19) 32591-7