Our scientists have achieved major scientific research results and are expected to turn lung cancer into a chronic disease
This paper, Guangzhou, August 14 (Reporters Wang Zhongyao and Wu Chunyan)
Late at night on August 12, Beijing time, the internationally renowned academic journal "Cell Cancer" published the latest research results of Wu Yilong's team, the honorary director of Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute. It is a new type of combined treatment method for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations in China.
This method can extend the patient's progression-free survival to 17.9 months, which means that the risk of disease progression is reduced by 45%.
It is understood that non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 85% of all lung cancer cases, and it is often at an advanced stage when it is discovered.
Traditional chemotherapy is the standard treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, but the 5-year survival rate is low.
In the Asian population, 35%~50% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer will have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations. The most common mutations in EGFR are the deletion of exon 19 (Del19) and exon 21 L858R Point mutation.
The oral antitumor drug erlotinib is used to treat patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer. It has better efficacy and lower side effects than standard chemotherapy, but most of the treatments fail due to acquired drug resistance.
In 2015, led by Wu Yilong’s team and 14 centers in China participated in a phase III study for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations in China, comparing bevacizumab combined with erlotinib and erlo The efficacy and safety of tinib monotherapy, and explored the characteristics of acquired resistance in the two groups.
The research team believes that bevacizumab is a recombinant humanized anti-vascular endothelial growth factor monoclonal immunoglobulin G1 antibody that can inhibit tumor angiogenesis and ultimately achieve the goal of "starving" the tumor.
The combination therapy of erlotinib and bevacizumab may prolong the progression-free survival of patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer.
As of January 18, 2019, the study found that compared with 11.2 months of erlotinib monotherapy, bevacizumab combined with erlotinib significantly prolonged the progression-free survival of patients. At 17.9 months, it means that the risk of disease progression is reduced by 45%.
The study also found that the toxicity of the combination therapy is manageable and tolerable, and no new safety signals have been found.
This study confirmed that bevacizumab combined with erlotinib has clinical benefits and controllable safety risks in the treatment of Chinese patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR-sensitive mutations.
Therefore, bevacizumab combined with erlotinib can be used as a first-line treatment option for patients with advanced, metastatic or recurrent EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer.
Zhou Qing, deputy director of the Guangdong Institute of Lung Cancer, said that the combination of erlotinib and bevacizumab not only significantly prolonged the progression-free survival of the overall population, but even has a trend of prolonging the overall survival in patients with brain metastases.
Wu Yilong said that lung cancer is a serious life-threatening disease. In the future, he will continue to work on new target exploration, new drug research and development, new model establishment, and difficult and hot issues. The focus is on the precision treatment and immunotherapy of lung cancer under the guidance of biomarkers. , In order to achieve the goal of turning lung cancer into a chronic disease.