2023-09-24 22:10:24
The cgynecological cancer It claims the lives of nearly 9,000 women every year in Mexico¹. This type of tumor includes those of the cervix, uterus and ovary, the latter being the most dangerous because it has a mortality rate of 60%¹ because there is no way to detect it in its early stages.
With this in mind, Mass General Brigham allocates an annual budget of almost 2 billion dollars to its research program with which it finances more than 2,700 clinical trials. It also has one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations with several teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
The center is barely 10 years old and has managed to expedite the approval of 25 drugs that today are part of the standard care of patients around the world. In the case of ovarian cancer, there are many advances as maintenance treatments after surgery. chemotherapies, immunotherapies and a great contribution to the CAR-T cell platform.
Before treatment, what is the origin of gynecological cancers?
Every year more than 20 thousand women are diagnosed with some type of gynecological cancer in Mexico, approximately 47% of the total cancer cases in women. Timely identifying the symptoms of these diseases is of vital importance to begin appropriate treatment.
HPV causes one death every 2 hours from cervical cancer
For each type of gynecological cancer there are very varied symptoms and risk factors. For example, uterine tumor may begin with irregular or heavy bleeding after menopause. Its risk factors are more linked to hypertension, diabetes and obesity.
Cervical cancer is directly related to chronic infection with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), so having a regular Pap smear helps detect it in its early stages.
“In the case of Ovarian Cancer, it is more difficult to detect it in the early stages since there are no tests for it. The most common thing is that people present symptoms of gastrointestinal diseases, nausea, vomiting or constipation, this is because the disease is already in the large or small intestine,” says Dr. del Carmen, who also works as a surgeon. gynecological oncology.
One of the risk factors for developing ovarian cancer is having mutations in the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes. They also predispose the appearance of breast cancer. For this reason, the focus of research has been directed not only to investigating treatments for symptoms, but also to gene therapies, which modify the genetic information of patients’ cells.
Innovation in the fight against cancer: Gene and “targeted” therapies
“At Mass General Brigham we are committed to offering the most innovative treatments available. Different types of cancer are treated with very diverse therapies, from systemic, surgery and chemotherapy, but we are always focused on providing patients with the most innovative treatment available today.”
The trend is to provide more personalized treatments. When a person is diagnosed with cancer, a molecular profile is performed on the tumors and according to this, specific therapy is given for them.
The first blood test to detect cervical cancer arrives in Mexico
The future of cancer therapies is focused on how to alter the patient’s immune system, through the CAR-T cell platform, so that this is their first line of defense and they have a stronger armor in their own body. .
Another approach currently is to have therapies “targeted” towards certain specific mutations. For example, today there is a pill-based maintenance therapy with PARP inhibitors for patients with ovarian cancer and a specific mutation in their tumors. These inhibitors help repair the damage caused to DNA, and prevent cancer cells from repairing themselves, improving the progression of patients who received chemotherapies.
In this way, generalized treatment such as chemotherapy is avoided, which can generate side effects and cause damage to healthy cells.
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