People with advanced breast cancer can live nearly twice as long without the disease worsening if they are treated with a new combination of certain drugs, according to results from an American trial revealed yesterday.
The new, two-pronged treatment for breast cancer focuses on both the multiplication of cancer cells and the blood supply servicing them, and is being talked about as being in the same league as the so-called "wonder drug" herceptin.
Patients' groups welcomed the findings but warned that even if further trials backed the results, the drug could still take years to be licensed for use for breast cancer in the UK.
Paclitaxel is a standard treatment for people suffering from metastatic cancers, where the disease has spread beyond the breast, usually via the lymph nodes. In the trial a second drug, bevacizumab, was added to the treatment of half the 722 participating patients. Researchers found that patients who received the combination survived with no further progression of the cancer for 11.4 months, compared with 6.11 months among the patients who took just the paclitaxel.
The results of the work, by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, a large US network of cancer specialists, were announced at the Fifth European Breast Cancer Conference, in Nice, yesterday. The results are causing particular excitement because the patients in the trial did not suffer significantly worse side effects, meaning that the quality of life for those suffering from the illness could be safeguarded.
"These results are good news for people with breast cancer. A drug with a novel mode of action on the blood vessels within the cancer has not added side effects for patients, and those who received the test drugs kept their cancer under control for almost twice as long as patients who received the standard regimen," said the study's author, Robin Zon, who is part of the Michiana Haematology Oncology Group.
The next step will be introducing the therapy for patients whose cancer has not progressed to metastasis. The side effects which were identified in patients, including high blood pressure and bleeding, were described as "manageable".
The scientists believe that the success of the combination is down to the drugs targeting cell reproduction and the tumour's support system simultaneously.
The two-pronged approach works in a similar way to herceptin, which is also often combined with paclitaxel. But breast cancer support groups yesterday suggested the initial findings of the new combination might mean the benefits would be felt by more women.
Only 25% of breast cancer patients who are HER2-positive - making them genetically vulnerable to aggressive breast cancers - can benefit from herceptin. But this combination also seems to work for people who are HER2-negative and it will now be tested on women whose cancer is not advanced.
Maria Leadbeater, a clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Care, warned patients that the bevacizumab drug was not yet licensed for use for breast cancer in the UK and could take years to become available. But she added: "Taxol [paclitaxel] and herceptin work effectively; this seems to be the next step for the future of targeted therapies. These are really encouraging results."
Twin treatment
Bevacizumab
Cancerous tumours form a network of blood vessels to assist their growth. The drug, which has the trade name Avastin, blocks the formation and growth of blood vessels by targeting a protein in the cell. This stops the growth of the tumour, which finally "suffocates" to death. The drug, licensed in the UK only for use in bowel cancer, is in the same group as herceptin but could turn out to be of broader benefit.
Paclitaxel
Also known as Taxol, the name it is sold under. It slows or stops the division of cancer cells in the body. It is already regularly used in the UK to treat advanced breast cancer.
