A global team of researchers has announced clinical trial results that point to a new immunotherapy treatment option for two of the most common types of soft tissue sarcoma in adults.
The team said the breakthrough reduces the risk of relapse by 43% at two years and will likely impact clinical practice for these cancer types.
The research was presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.
The trial, called SU2C-SARC032, evaluated outcomes of 127 participating patients across 20 hospitals in four countries – the US, Canada, Italy and Australia.
Over the course of six years, beginning in 2017, the researchers persevered to enrol enough patients, even as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed work considerably for many months. During that time, SU2C worked closely with the team to extend funding timelines and support the completion of the trial.
Patients in the SU2C-SARC032 trial were separated into two different groups: group 1 received the standard treatment of radiation therapy and surgery; group 2 received the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab before, during and after radiation therapy, and they received pembrolizumab again after surgery.
The researchers closely followed the patients and evaluated results two years after each patient completed treatment. Results showed that the addition of pembrolizumab reduced the risk of relapse by 43% at two years.
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