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What are the latest advances in lung cancer treatment?
Thanks for asking.
In April 2022, findings from the large-scale Checkmate 816 clinical trial were presented to the American Association for Cancer Research.
The trial looked into the effectiveness of immunotherapy drug Nivolumab, combined with chemotherapy to treat lung cancer patients.
The findings were promising, showing that this particular treatment combination can delay the progression or return of cancer.
How common is lung cancer and how does it start?
It's the third most common type of cancer, after prostate cancer and breast cancer.
According to the World Health Organization, 221 million lung cancer cases were diagnosed in 2020, including 236000 in the United States and close to 50000 in the UK, but it also accounts for close to 25 of all cancer deaths, according to cancerorg, making it by far the leading cause of cancer death.
Diagnosis often comes late, as symptoms usually don't appear until the disease is at an advanced stage.
Lung cancer can develop in any part of the lungs or airways, such as the windpipe, bronchus or lung tissue.
Regular cells mutate and then multiply uncontrollably, turning into a malignant tumour.
Without treatment, the cancer spreads as these malignant cells move to other organs through the blood or lymphatic system.
They can then form secondary growths in a process known as metastasis.
There are two main types of lung cancer, each of which responds differently to treatment.
Small cell lung cancer only accounts for 15 to 20% of cases, but is more aggressive.
It's most often caused by smoking.
Meanwhile, non-small cell lung cancer accounts for 80-85 of cases and groups together a few further subdivisions which all behave in a similar way.
What are the most prominent treatment options?
These days, non-small cell lung cancers are treated through surgery when possible, followed by chemotherapy.
It's grueling for the patient and not always effective in the long term, with the chances of recurrence varying between 30 and 60, depending what stage the cancer is at.
Immunotherapy is another form of treatment which enables a patient's own immune system to attack the cancer rather than targeting it directly.
And that's where Nivolumab comes in.
It's already used as a treatment for a number of different types of cancer, as it blocks a particular protein which stops the immune system from attacking cancer cells.
The recent trial combined three cycles of Nivolumab with traditional chemotherapy prior to surgery.
This was specifically for patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer.
After a follow-up of 21 months or more, patients being treated with Nivolumab lived event-free for an extra 11 months on average, compared to those receiving chemotherapy alone.
Furthermore, 24% of their tissue samples showed no sign of cancer.
Side effects and surgical complications were also reduced.
Should we expect this treatment to become used widely?
It won't be suitable for all patients as every tumour is different.
Further studies will certainly be needed, but nevertheless the US Food and Drug Administration approved use of the treatment option back in March based on the Checkmate 816 trial results.
There may not be a huge impact on patient treatment plans immediately, but over time that could come.
According to an article published on curetodaycom, it's part of a general paradigm shift towards using immunotherapy in early stage lung cancer cases.
Whereas traditionally radiation and chemotherapy have been used far more.
That's backed up by data from the American Medical Association, which suggests that lung cancer patients are slowly being diagnosed earlier due to increased screening of those most at risk, like smokers.
There you have it.
Now you know what lung cancer is.
