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Cancer research

Groundbreaking Research at City of Hope Advances Lifesaving Treatments for Cancer and Chronic Diseases

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

City of Hope's Research Spotlight highlights cutting-edge discoveries in cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases, offering new hope to patients worldwide. A recent study on a new drug combination has shown potential in slowing the spread of advanced prostate cancer, while a novel AI tool is revolutionizing cancer research by analyzing large sets of clinical and genetic data. Additionally, a new study suggests that a bone-protecting medication may boost breast cancer response to treatment but comes with a risk of severe side effects.

Key Takeaways:

  • A Phase 3 clinical trial led by Sumanta Pal, M.D., demonstrated that a new drug combination, cabozantinib and atezolizumab, delays the worsening of advanced prostate cancer but does not help patients live longer.
  • The study included 575 men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who had already tried one type of hormone-blocking medicine but saw no improvement.
  • The combination treatment slowed the cancer's growth by 21 months (6.3 months vs. 4.2 months) but had no significant difference in overall survival.
  • About half of the patients on the combination treatment experienced side effects compared to 1 in 4 patients in the hormone therapy group.
  • More research is needed to understand if certain groups of patients might benefit more than others.
  • Dr. Pal specializes in studying novel immunotherapy combinations with the goal of improving patient outcomes.
  • The Lancet Oncology paper provides more information on the study.
  • Dr. Pal is a paid consultant to Genentech, the maker of atezolizumab.
  • A new AI tool, AI-HOPE, developed by City of Hope's Enrique Velazquez Villarreal, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., helps researchers quickly uncover connections between genes and disease - without needing to write a single line of code.
  • AI-HOPE acts like a super-smart assistant for medical researchers, allowing users to ask complex scientific questions in plain English and automatically analyzing large sets of clinical and genetic data.
  • The tool demonstrated its effectiveness using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).
  • AI-HOPE correctly identified that TP53 gene mutations are more common in patients with late-stage colorectal cancer than in those with early-stage disease.
  • AI-HOPE is a powerful tool for advancing precision medicine, where therapies are customized to each patient's unique genetic profile.
  • The Bioinformatics article provides more information on AI-HOPE.
  • A new study suggests that the bone-protecting medication denosumab may boost a breast cancer patient's response to treatment, but it also increases the risk of severe side effects when combined with the immunotherapy pembrolizumab.
  • The study evaluated 425 women with Stage 1 through 4 breast cancer and found that denosumab-treated patients experienced nearly double the rate of serious immune-related side effects.
  • Despite the elevated risk, denosumab-treated patients showed a higher tumor response rate.
  • Survival outcomes were similar across all groups.
  • The findings highlight a potential tradeoff between toxicity and efficacy, underscoring the need for further clinical trials to explore this combination therapy.
  • The Oncologist paper provides more information on the study.

Statistics:

  • 575 men participated in the Phase 3 clinical trial on the new drug combination for advanced prostate cancer.
  • 21 months: the average time period in which the cancer's growth slowed down for patients on the combination treatment.
  • 4.2 months: the average time period in which the cancer's growth worsened for patients on hormone therapy.
  • 6.3 months: the average time period in which the cancer's growth slowed down for patients on the combination treatment.
  • 15 months: the average overall survival time for patients in both groups.
  • 50%: the percentage of patients on the combination treatment who experienced side effects.
  • 25%: the percentage of patients in the hormone therapy group who experienced side effects.

Sources:

  • "New Drug Combo Slows Advanced Prostate Cancer"
  • The Lancet Oncology paper
  • "New AI Assistant Helps Scientists Unlock Cancer Clues"
  • Bioinformatics article
  • "Bone Drug Denosumab May Boost Breast Cancer Response to Therapy"
  • The Oncologist paper

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