United States: The majority of thyroid cancer moves slowly and, if detected early, is easily treatable. However, some patients can have what is referred to as an anaplastic thyroid carcinoma – a very rare and highly malignant tumor with a very unfavorable outcome.
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But now there is fresh hope for all those diagnosed with this type of tumor – thanks to a new clinical trial.
Adding immunotherapy to another kind of treatment – specifically aimed at a specific genetic marker present in some of the ATC tumors – seems to boost patients’ survival, say Texas physicians.
According to Dr. Maria Cabanillas, the lead investigator, “Patients with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma need treatments that work fast, and we saw promising results with this combination treatment approach,” wfmz.com reported.
She’s a professor of endocrine neoplasia and hormonal disorders at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
When describing ATC tumors, the researchers said in a hospital news release that the tumors can be genetically distinct among patients.
About 40 percent of ATC tumors have mutations within the BRAF gene, which helps define the cancer’s character and prediction.
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The new trial focused on 42 patients battling a BRAF-mutated ATC.
Out of all eighteen of the patients received three drugs: Atezolizumab (Tecentriq), a monoclonal antibody immunotherapy drug, along with vemurafenib and cobimetinib, BRAF targeted drugs, and more.
It also revealed that the median overall survival of patients in that group was over 43 months, and patients’ favorable response rate to the regimen was about 50 percent, according to the Houston team.
The second subgroup of ATC patients were 21 people with cancerous tumors, which were characterized by changing RAS (NRAS, KRAS, or HRAS) or people with NF1/2 mutation.
This group received both atezolizumab plus cobimetinib; however, the total median survival duration was significantly worse at only 8·7 months.
The team also stated that only 14 percent of patients had responded to that therapy.
Lastly, three other ATC patients from the study with none of the tumor cell mutations seen in two previous groups were treated with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Avastin).
According to Cabanillas, “The takeaway from this study is that immunotherapy really does add benefit for patients.”