Kathy Tolentino

Courtesy photo

With more than 100 different diseases collectively falling under the name of “cancer,” identifying promising new developments in treatment, detection and prevention is not a singular task.

An even further differentiating factor? Each diagnosis can be as unique as the individual patient.

Fortunately, with nearly one-fourth of the 21st century in the rear-view mirror, cancer research is going strong. Between August 1, 2022, and July 31, 2023, the FDA approved 14 new anti-cancer therapeutics and 12 new uses for already-approved cancer treatments.

These advances provide hope in the ongoing battle against cancer and the top goal for us all: its eradication via a cure. Below are some of the most promising cancer breakthroughs from this past year.

CAR T-cell therapy

CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy where chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) are attached to T-cells to, as described by the National Cancer Institute, “enlist and strengthen the power of the patient’s immune system to attack tumors.”

Also known as T-lymphocytes, T-cells are white blood cells that help your body’s immune system fight infection and other foreign agents. Researchers found that the receptors in the T-cells attach to harmful antigens, like cancer, in an attempt to destroy the disease.

In CAR T-cell therapy, those cells are extracted from a patient’s blood, with a lab then using that blood sample to introduce the CAR gene to the T-cells.

The CAR protein is a synthetic molecule not naturally produced by the body. However, by attaching the CAR gene to T-cells and introducing the re-engineered cells to a cancer patient’s body, the CAR T-cells multiply and boost the T-cells’ ability to recognize and kill cancer cells.

First used more than a decade ago with child and adult leukemia patients, the therapy’s effectiveness has been shown in several long-term studies. In one, CAR T-cell therapy was given to a group of cancer patients who had been diagnosed as “virtually untreatable” after a relapse of leukemia. In follow-ups, researchers found that almost 62% of that group were in remission after five years. Another smaller study found that a significant number of patients who underwent the treatment were in remission for over 10 years.

These results and more have opened the door to more clinical trials to test the therapy on breast, lung, pancreatic and prostate cancers, as well as certain autoimmune diseases.

FLASH-RT

Radiation therapy has been used to treat a variety of cancers for more than a century. Because of the severe side effects of radiation, the treatment is usually offered over time, with several smaller doses of radiation delivered over several minutes’ duration.

In 2014, a breakthrough study on animals found that extreme exposure to very high radiation levels was just as effective on tumors and had significantly less damage to healthy surrounding tissue. The results were initially met with skepticism; however, almost 10 years and more than 30 studies later, the results have been positively replicated, with the first human trial in 2022.

FLASH-RT is a procedure in which a patient receives powerful bursts of radiation, typically in less than one second. Receiving this intense blast of radiation at the same dose as current radiation therapy has shown a reduction in side effects and damage to healthy tissue.

This has positive implications for increased combined cancer therapies; for example, a patient who receives FLASH-RT may have a more robust response to immunotherapies because there is less damage to healthy cells from radiation.

Additionally, FLASH-RT may be an optional treatment for pediatric cancers because, currently, children are more susceptible to the side effects of radiation therapy.

There is potential for higher doses of radiation than initially thought possible, opening the door for treatment of cancers where radiation therapy was previously deemed harmful, such as brain, lung and gastrointestinal cancers.

However, do not expect to see FLASH-RT as a treatment option any time soon. Scientists and physicians still do not understand precisely how and why it works, making understanding the mechanisms and biology of the treatment a priority so it can be a safe and effective treatment for cancer patients.

The cancer injection

In August, the National Health Service in the United Kingdom offered the world’s first cancer injection, atezolizumab. An immunotherapy drug typically given through an intravenous treatment lasting anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, the injection takes about seven minutes to administer. It was estimated that approximately 3,600 U.K. cancer patients would start the injection treatments for a variety of cancers such as bladder, breast, liver, and lung.

Cancer and artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are emerging technologies with the potential to disrupt (or transform) many industries – and cancer care is no exception.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Mass General Cancer Center, researchers have created Sybil, an AI-learning model trained with complex imaging data of people with lung cancer, which holds the dubious distinction of killing more people in the U.S. than the following three deadliest cancers combined.

Armed with the imaging data of lung cancer patients before and after diagnosis, Sybil uses a CT scan to predict an individual’s lung cancer risk over the next six years.

Pancreatic cancer is yet another difficult-to-diagnosis cancer with a low survival rate of less than 20 percent. Researchers at Harvard Medical School, along with the University of Copenhagen and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, are studying the effects of using AI to identify patients with a high risk of pancreatic cancer. If pancreatic cancer is detected early, a patient’s survival rate increases to 50 percent.

Other potential uses for AI include analysis of imaging scans to identify cancers where oncology radiologists may not be available. AI chatbots can help answer patient questions and help them navigate through treatments with reminders and scheduling assistance.

Kathy Tolentino is executive director of the Fort Myers-based Partners in Care Foundation. To learn more, visit yourpartnersincare.org.