In a study published in the March 27, 2023, online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health found the combination of immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) and chemotherapy in patients with advanced or recurrent/advanced endometrial cancer resulted in a significant reduction in disease growth when compared with chemotherapy alone.
In the blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized Phase III trial, 816 people with Stage III or IV endometrial cancer were assigned to two groups: deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) and proficient mismatch repair (pMMR), and treated with either immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy or with chemotherapy alone.
In cancer, mismatch repair (MMR) proteins describe cells that have mutations in certain genes that are involved in correcting mistakes made when DNA is copied in a cell. pMMR is the “normal” state our cells are in, where the MMR pathway is active and functional. dMMR is the “mutant” state, where the MMR pathway is not working as usual.
At a follow up time of 12-months, the dMMR group showed a 70% reduction in the risk of disease growth in the participants who received immunotherapy in addition to chemotherapy. The pMMR group showed a 46% reduction in the risk of disease growth in the participants who received immunotherapy in addition to chemotherapy.
