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Immune Therapy May Help Ovarian Cancer Patients

| March 30, 2015 Comment

Immune Therapy May Help Ovarian Cancer Patients – According to a new report, immunotherapy may increase the lifespan of patients suffering from the deadly ovarian cancer.

In immunotherapy, a patient’s immune system is trained to attack the disease. Dr. Jonathan Oh, a gynecologic oncologist at Texas Oncology in Dallas and colleagues tried the approach in 31 women who had advanced ovarian cancer. They took a sample of cells for each patient’s tumor and genetically engineered them to activate the immune system to better recognize and attack them.

For the trial, all women underwent the standard surgery and chemotherapy, and those who opted for the experimental treatment, received one injection per month of modified tumor cells for a time period ranging from four and 12 months.

According to researchers, the cancer recurred in the women who were not on immunotherapy, after an average of 18 months. But in the majority of women who received the immunotherapy, the cancer did not come back. Researcjers are planning to conduct advanced immunotherapy trials in more patients.

In a second trial, researcheres used the drug Avastin, which is a cancer drug that works by starving cancer cells. As in the previous trial, Avastin was combined with chemotherapy in women who had ovarian cancer. Researchers found that on an average, the drug increased the womens’ lifespan by 5 months. The side-effects that Avastin is known to cause, such as stomach bleeding, was not severe in the women.

According to the National Cancer Institute, almost 80% of ovarian cancer patients experience a recurrence after the standard treatment.

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