The preliminary results of the D-BIOMARK clinical trial against breast cancer, promoted by the Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO), have revealed the potential of denosumab, an osteoporosis treatment, against breast cancer.
Published in ‘Breast Cancer Research’, it indicates that denosumab could enhance the anti-tumor immune response by increasing the number of infiltrating immune cells to combat cancer, as reported by the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (Idibell) in a statement on Tuesday.
The research is based on «promising» previous results in basic and preclinical research, demonstrating that inhibiting the RANK pathway could help slow tumor growth.
In this clinical trial, the biological effects of denosumab were evaluated in 60 women with early-stage breast cancer, newly diagnosed, who had not yet started any treatment and were all awaiting surgery to remove the tumor.
Two doses of 120 milligrams of denosumab were administered in the treated group, and no treatment in the control group, and then blood samples and biopsies were compared at the time of diagnosis with those taken after the injection.
RESULTS
Although denosumab was not associated with a reduction in the proliferation or survival of cancer cells, it was related to a «significant» increase in infiltrating immune cells in the tumor.
This increase was observed in all subtypes of breast cancer evaluated, but «especially in luminal type B tumors.»
The researchers point out that denosumab’s ability to increase immune infiltration into the tumor «opens a valuable avenue of clinical interest,» so new analyses have been launched to investigate the mechanisms involved in this immune activation.
FUENTE
