Targeted Antibody-Based Therapy Offers Hope To Patients With Advanced Stomach Cancer

A newly devised experimental therapy involving immune-system antibodies is making patients suffering from an advanced form of stomach cancer live longer. These are the findings reported by a team of researchers at Northwell Health in Manhasset, N.Y.

Recently, the researchers conducted Phase 2 clinical trial involving an antibody called IMAB362. The clinical trial involved around 160 patients with stomach cancer.

According to the researchers, the median survival of people who received chemotherapy alone was around 8.4 months. However, the survival was increased to 13 months when the patients received both chemotherapy and the antibody-based experimental therapy.

Dr. David Bernstein, chief of hepatology at Northwell Health, explained how metastatic gastric cancer often has a poor prognosis and the effectiveness of the current treatment methods used such as chemotherapy leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the proper course of treatment.

The researcher further said even though the study results are encouraging, a larger study must be conducted to assess its large-scale impact. However, he believes that this type of therapy may prove effective in treating stomach cancer.

The IMAB362 antibody works by targeting a protein called claudin 18.2, which is a protein present on cancer cells. Surprisingly, the team of German researchers discovered that people who has greater levels of this protein in the tumor cells before the antibody treatment had even a greater median survival of around 17 months.

Based on the findings, the researchers predict that patients with advanced form of gastric cancer could be the most suitable candidates for this form of treatment.

The new form of treatment does not have any side effects because it specifically targets the protein present solely in the lining of the stomach and not anywhere else in healthy tissues.

The complete details of the study were recently presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), in Chicago.