Article by Miranda Sudo
A new study conducted by Baylor College of Medicine showed promising results using preoperative immunotherapy to treat patients with resectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Immunotherapy drugs, which work by helping a patient’s immune system recognize cancer cells and strengthening its response to destroy them, have recently been showing positive results in treating patients with nonresectable mesothelioma. According to the researchers, one reason to use immunotherapy pre-operatively is that it can activate an immune response that will persist after the tumor is removed and if the tumor tries to recur, then the body has an existing memory immune response to fight it.
In this new clinical trial, patients with resectable mesothelioma, meaning their tumors are able to be removed through surgery, received immunotherapy treatment three weeks prior to surgery. By biopsying the tumors prior to immunotherapy, as well as afterwards, researchers found that patients who received a combination of the immunotherapy drugs durvalamav and tremelimumab had significant positive changes to their tumor microenvironments. After following the patients for 3 years, the researchers also found that there was an increase in overall survival for the patients who received the combination of immunotherapy drugs.
To continue exploring new immunotherapy treatments, the researchers at Baylor College of Medicine are currently working on a new study where they will compare the combination immunotherapy used in this study with a chemo-immunotherapy. They are also continuing to follow the participants of this study to see the future effects of the immunotherapy treatment (Pathak).
RESOURCES:
Pathak , Dipali. (2022, December 13) Preoperative Immunotherapy for Mesothelioma Shows Favorable Outcomes. Baylor College of Medicine. Retrieved December 27, 2022, from https://www.bcm.edu/news/preoperative-immunotherapy-for-mesothelioma-shows-favorable-outcomes.
