PERSEVERE is a phase 2 clinical trial that compares tailored cancer treatment combinations to standard cancer treatment options.
Schneider, the Vera Bradley Professor of Oncology at Indiana University School of Medicine and a physician-scientist at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Centre and the Vera Bradley Foundation Centre for Breast Cancer Research, said, “There is a tremendous need for successful triple-negative breast cancer treatments.”
Study Aims To Develop Tailored Therapy For People With Breast Cancer
“The rates of recurrence and death are still unacceptably high, and new techniques to improve them are urgently required. PERSEVERE, we believe, is a novel experiment that can help satisfy those demands,” added Schneider.
While one-third of triple-negative breast cancer patients will go into remission following surgery and chemotherapy, the other two-thirds will still have malignant tissue in their bodies.
In the past decades, there has been a surge in patients with breast cancer across the USA and even in other countries. The experts have taken it as a challenge and carried out a study where they have created a therapy that can prove highly beneficial to such patients.
The clinical trials of therapy have offered promising results. Experts expect the same results while applied for practical use. A team of specialists is yet busy with some more researches in this direction, which will be offering better results in the coming days.
Patients who test positive for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)—tumor cell fragments discovered in the bloodstream—after surgery have a higher risk of their cancer returning, according to new research.
PERSEVERE will enroll 200 people and test their blood for the presence of ctDNA. Whether a participant’s ctDNA is positive, the researchers will examine their blood and tumor DNA to see if there are any genetic differences that might be treated with a gnomically targeted therapy or a routine treatment.
Based on their genetic differences, these participants could get a variety of combination medicines. If a person tests positive for ctDNA but researchers find no specific genetic target in their blood or cancer tissue, they will be treated according to their doctor’s recommendations.
Participants who test negative for ctDNA may get normal therapy, but they also have the option of staying in the study for observation if they test negative for ctDNA.
Schneider also said that “We have proven that circulating tumor DNA is also a very powerful risk-stratified based on the data that came out of our group.” “We’ll use that great ability in this trial to further focus our attention on potential medicines for patients with ctDNA positive who are at extremely high risk.
Equally important, it will allow us to concentrate on people who do not test positive for ctDNA. This group is likely to do well in terms of de-escalating therapy and enhancing the quality of life.
The presence of ctDNA and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the plasma of women who have undergone chemotherapy before surgery for triple-negative breast cancer treatment are critical indicators for the prediction of disease recurrence and disease-free survival, according to a previous discovery by Schneider and colleagues.
The results of the BRE12-158 trial were initially presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which is one of the world’s largest gatherings of breast cancer researchers and physicians, and it was also subsequently published in JAMA Oncology.
All participants will be followed up for up to five years to look for adverse effects and evidence of cancer recurrence. By examining factors specific to each participant’s illness, this study attempts to find better treatments for patients fighting triple-negative breast cancer.
