Immunotherapy Combo Stops Rare, Stage 4 Sarcoma in Teenage Patient
A new study which researchers from the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center and the Georgetown Lombardy Comprehensive Cancer Center published showed, a patient who has "end-stage and quickly developing soft-tissue cancer whose tumor" was not responsive to standard treatment, had a "rapid and complete response" to an innovative combination of immunotherapy.
Specifically, according to the study authors, the immunotherapies aim the "immune checkpoints T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 or CTLA-4 and programmed cell death protein 1 or PD-1" were given to a 19-year-old patient who had stage 4 epithelioid sarcoma.
The said patient, whose tumor response took place within two weeks following receipt of the combination, continued usual activity and was in full remission at the time of the report.
With consent from the patient, this one case was initially reported online in August this year in the Journal of Immunotherapy.
ALSO READ: A New Study Reveals Amniotic Fluid That May Produce Better Therapeutic Option for Ischemic Stroke
The patient was initially diagnosed with the soft-tissue sarcoma along the spine. Following diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiation, and standard of care medications were administered.
'Epithelioid Sarcoma'
According to Andrew Pecora, MD, FACP, CPE, the division chief of skin cancer and sarcoma services at John Theurer, epithelioid sarcoma is a rare cancer type, and the outcome is not expected to be positive.
The breakthrough, Pecora added, in terms of care of this patient, was the outcome "of the close collaboration between clinician-scientists of the Consortium" to clarify the underlying instruments that proposed probable "sensitivity to the checkpoint inhibitors."
The team working in this particular case engaging experts from the Consortium, according to Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute director, Louis Weiner, "Turned things around for the patient in the report."
With the hope of having the ability to carry on to "keep cancer at bay," the team intends to follow the patient closely.
DON'T MISS THIS: Why Stress Makes One Overeat or Not Eat at All, and How to Overcome It
First Diagnosis
In 2017 when, at 17, the patient was initially diagnosed with the soft-tissue sarcoma along the spine. Following diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiation, and standard of care medications were administered.
More so, the doctors performed surgery to perform a partial response. Then, in April last year, the patient was confined at the hospital due to severe pain, and his cancer developed to stage 4.
Essentially, most of the epithelioid sarcoma cases present an inactivation of SMARCB1, a protein-coding gene. Such an inactivation results in the suppression of a gene that codes for a tumor-suppressing protein, known as INI1. It efficiently leads to a biological chain response that stimulates the growth of a tumor.
The John Theurer Cancer Center doctors, collaborating with Georgetown's experts, acquired a considerate use authorization to try two new checkpoint inhibitors: the anti-CTLA4 or ipilimumab, and anti-PDI or nivolumab in May last year.
By October, the patient was reported to be in complete remission. According to reports, as of his last visit in June this year, he has carried on with his normal activities, as well as his normal physical examination, not to mention, especially asymptomatic.
Hackensack Meridian Health's physician-in-chief of Oncology, Andre Goy, MD, MS, they were eager to see what their science can do for their most ill patients. Apparently, Goy continued, nearly anything, through this development, is becoming possible.
IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS: 6 Reasons Why You're Gaining Weight Unintentionally
Check out more news and information on Cancer on MD News Daily.
Oct 16, 2020 08:20 AM EDT
