Immune-Based Treatment May Fight Advanced Cervical Cancer

MONDAY, June 2, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A new type of therapy shows promise in treating some women with advanced cervical cancer, researchers say.

The majority of cervical cancers are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). This new treatment -- called HPV-targeted adoptive T cell therapy -- boosts the body's natural immune response to HPV in cervical cancer tumors, the study authors explained.

First, HPV-targeted T cells -- immune cells that specifically attack tumor cells that contain HPV proteins -- are grown from a patient's tumor in the laboratory. The T cells are then put back into the patient's body to fight her cancer.

In this U.S. National Cancer Institute-supported study, nine women with advanced cervical cancer underwent the therapy, and three responded to it. One of those three patients had a 39 percent reduction in tumor volume, while the other two had complete remissions that had lasted for 11 months and 18 months by the time the study was written.

"This proof-of-principle study shows that adoptive transfer of HPV-targeted T cells can cause complete remission of metastatic cervical cancer and that this remission can be long-lasting," lead author Dr. Christian Hinrichs, an assistant clinical investigator at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said in a news release from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

The therapy was linked to serious side effects, however, including low blood counts, infections and metabolic disorders, the researchers said. Hinrichs and colleagues were scheduled to present the findings Monday in Chicago at the ASCO annual meeting.

Adoptive T cell therapy has previously shown promise in treating melanoma, leukemia and sarcoma, but this is the first time it has been tested in cervical cancer patients.

"Cellular therapy might have application to a broader range of tumor types than previously recognized," Hinrichs said. However, he added, "this treatment is still considered experimental and is associated with significant side effects. We also need to explore why this therapy worked so well in certain women, and not in others."

Studies presented at medical meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal, but two experts in the field remained cautiously optimistic about the new therapy.

"I think that this small pilot study provides an important proof-of-concept," said Dr. Louis Weiner, director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C.

See the original post:
Immune-Based Treatment May Fight Advanced Cervical Cancer