New precision therapy offers hope for those with hard-to-treat cancer
Old Pa A With With Wrong Trying Hard New A A Year Find Him Picture: Who Father chris A Of What Russell, Has Derbyshire, Was Year With Treat Therapy Shown In Patients Nearly Traditionally Four Mayfield Cup 'encouraging' Early Was From Results Precision Cancer 55 Diagnosed After 2022 In For To Specialists Of Out To
A new precision therapy has shown "encouraging" results for patients with a traditionally hard-to-treat cancer.
Scientists said a new molecular-targeted treatment can help increase "progression-free survival" rates for patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP).
CUP means that cancer spread (also known as secondary cancer) has been found in a patient's body but doctors do not know where the cancer started.
This can either occur because the secondary cancer has grown very quickly while the initial cancer is still small or, in rare circumstances, the patient's immune system has successfully attacked the original primary cancer and it has disappeared while the secondary cancer is still growing.
The main treatment is traditional chemotherapy but someone's odds of survival are generally quite poor.
However, an international team of researchers has been assessing whether a new type of personalised treatment can help increase survival odds.
Patients taking part in the trial, known as CUPISCO, are given a "comprehensive genetic profile" to examine in detail the genetic changes driving the cancer.
Based on this information, scientists can make the best decisions on personalised treatments, with a number of different treatments being offered in the trial.
Some 436 people who had at least one of three doses of chemotherapy, and whose CUP did not get worse, were involved in the trial.
Of these, 326 received molecularly-guided therapy after genetic profiling.
Data from the study, which was presented to the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Spain, shows that treatment choices guided by comprehensive genomic profiling "significantly" increases the length of time before a patient's cancer gets worse, compared with standard chemotherapy.
Those who had personalised treatment had an average of 6.1 months of "progression-free survival" compared to an average of 4.4 months among those who received standard care, according to the study.
Researchers said the participants are being tracked for longer-term survival but initial figures suggest patients survive longer with the precision therapy.
Dr Natalie Cook, consultant medical oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and principal investigator of the trial, said: "People diagnosed with CUP have traditionally had a poor prognosis and although the incidence is decreasing it remains the sixth most common cause of cancer death.
"The CUPISCO results are very encouraging and show that we must ensure our patients have access to comprehensive genomic testing and molecular-targeted treatments where a match is found.
"This will hopefully increase treatment options in the future, leading to better prognosis and outcomes in people diagnosed with CUP."