- Advanced melanoma patients often face a risk of recurrence postsurgery.
- New approaches, like immunotherapies before surgery, could potentially help improve the body’s ability to fight cancer and improve patient outcomes.
- An innovative approach using a genetically modified herpes virus, known as Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), is gaining traction as it directs immune cells to attack cancer cells, potentially revolutionizing melanoma treatment.
In a phase 2 clinical trial, researchers examined an innovative approach using a genetically modified herpes virus to treat advanced melanoma. The findings were published in
The study involved 150 patients with advanced melanoma from various places worldwide.
The Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) is designed to infect and replicate within tumor cells and attract immune cells like T cells and natural killer cells to attack cancer.
The patients they included had a specific type of melanoma that could be surgically removed and had one or more tumors that could be injected with the treatment.
The researchers divided the patients into two groups: one group received injections of neoadjuvant T-VEC followed by surgery (group 1), and the other group had surgery alone without the treatment (group 2).
The treatment the researchers used, T-VEC, was injected directly into the tumors.
They started with a lower dose and gradually increased it over the course of several weeks until the patients had surgery or their tumors were no longer injectable, or they couldn’t tolerate the treatment.
The researchers followed the patients for about 5 years. After this time, they found that the group with the T-VEC treatment followed by surgery had a better chance of not having their cancer return (22.3% vs. 15.2% for the surgery-only group).
This suggests that the T-VEC treatment helped reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.
These findings suggest that T-VEC treatment before surgery can make a real difference in how well patients do regarding…
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