The researchers presented the results of an experimental immunotherapeutic drug, which proved to be an effective method of treatment even for those tumors that recurred or did not respond to other types of immunotherapy. It is noteworthy that in combination with drugs already approved for humans, scientists have noted a tenfold increase in the production of T cells that attack cancer.
American scientists presented the results of clinical trials in phase I/II, which studied the properties of the immunotherapeutic drug nemvaleucine alpha alone and in combination with pembrolizumab, writes EurokAlert. The participants were patients with different types of solid tumors in the late stages.
Nemvaleucine alpha aims to stimulate the growth and proliferation of antitumor immune cells. Its use triggers the attack of CD8 T cells and tumor-targeting killer cells, scientists explain. In the first stage of the study, they tested the drug as an independent method of treatment.
In 18% of patients with metastatic kidney cancer, treatment reduced the tumor first and then for at least six months. Similar results were achieved in 8% of patients with melanoma. The researchers then evaluated the effect of nemvaleucine alpha in combination with the already available and widely used immunotherapeutic drug pembrolizumab.
The combination resulted in a tenfold increase in CD8 T cells and killer cells in 16% of volunteers with all cancers, more than half of whom showed complete cessation of disease progression.
For example, 28% of women with ovarian cancer responded to treatment, although chemotherapy had not shown any results before.
The study is currently underway. The final results should show at least similar benefits for nemvaleucine alpha to be destroyed for the treatment of people with metastatic solid tumors.
