Regarding the most prevalent malignant neoplasms in men, what’s new?
Medical research continues to point to more powerful anti-cancer drugs. New approaches are still being discovered that can treat cancer earlier and improve outcomes in laboratories and research trials. So what has attracted the most attention in the fields of colon, lung and prostate cancer, the three malignancies that most commonly affect men?
Prostate cancer
The use of hormonal treatments to treat cancer in both advanced and early stages has attracted increasing attention. Some active trials are worth mentioning. For example, patients at high risk of cancer relapse receive rigorous hormonal treatment before and after prostate surgery as part of the PROTEUS experiment.
In high-risk patients who have already received radiation and hormone therapy but still have detectable PSA levels, an analogous approach would be to increase the dose of hormone medication.
After prostate surgery, some people at high risk prostate cancer They are also receiving hormone therapy. Using genetic testing of prostate tissue to identify men who are at high risk of cancer recurrence, the ERADICATE investigation is investigating the possible benefits of aggressive hormone therapy for these men after a prostatectomy. (The results of the ERADICATE study and the PROTEUS experiment are anticipated in a few years).
Treatment for prostate cancer that is already widespread has also advanced recently. “In these cases, the usual treatment is radiation to the prostate and intensive hormonal treatments,” the statement reads.
Lung cancer
Improvements in the treatment of non-small cells lung cancer (NSCLC), which accounts for 80% of all lung cancer cases, have been numerous over the past ten years. Specifically, novel drugs that target cancer cells or trigger an immune response are being used to combat the disease as adjuvant therapy (given after surgery) or as a prelude to surgery.
Chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy (drugs that activate the immune system) has been shown to be particularly beneficial for neoadjuvant treatment.
As an example, he cites the use of chemotherapy in addition to the drug nivolumab (Opdivo) before surgery, which reduces the proportion of tumor cells that remain active after the tumor is removed. Similarly, giving atezolizumab (Tecentriq), which the FDA cleared in 2021, after chemotherapy and surgery has also been shown to improve outcomes.
Other specific drugs target cancer cells that have specific genetic alterations that change the cells’ DNA. A recent example is osimertinib (Tagrisso), a drug that cures cancer with certain EGFR mutations. After surgery, it has been shown to have better control over lung cancer.
The next stage of lung cancer treatment is to determine whether specific mutations other than EGFR should be targeted with targeted therapy, either before or after surgery. Current trials are also investigating the possible expanded role of immunotherapy. For example, participants in the long-term (a few more years) ALCHEMIST chemo-IO (ACCIO) research are treated with chemotherapy and immunotherapy or immunotherapy plus chemotherapy and plus immunotherapy.
Colon cancer
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