Exploring Antibody Drug Conjugates in Cervical Cancer Treatment
Dr. Abigail Zamorano of McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston explains how antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are revolutionizing cervical cancer treatment. She discusses how these therapies deliver targeted chemotherapy to cancer cells, minimizing exposure to healthy tissue while maximizing effectiveness.
[ACT]IVATION TIP
…for patients to talk to their providers about what next steps might need to occur if their cancer were to recur.”
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Transcript:
Lisa Hatfield:
Dr. Zamorano, what is an antibody drug conjugate as it relates to cervical cancer? And how do you see antibody drug conjugates shaping the future of cervical cancer treatment?
Dr. Abigail Zamorano:
An antibody drug conjugate is this really fascinating new way of delivering essentially chemotherapy to cancer cells. It is essentially a chemotherapy backpack where it is a therapy delivered to the patient, usually through an IV, similar to the way that chemotherapy is delivered. But instead of giving a large dose across the entire body, as is is typical with traditional chemotherapy, it’s packaged in these little backpacks that go directly to cells that express certain proteins, specifically in certain types of cancers. Now, there are other cells in our body that also have these proteins. And so there are side effects to these therapies. But the really exciting thing is that it allows us to give a really high dose of chemotherapy directly to the cancer cell.
Though the way that these have been made possible is really through clinical trials. And so we always, we appreciate all of the patients and providers that have enrolled in clinical trials to make this happen. I think that this is the direction that a lot of cancer therapy will take in the future. Of course, as I said, there are side effects to these therapies, but we’ve learned how to manage these really well, and I think that these are really exciting options for our patients.
My [ACT]IVATION tip for this question is for patients to talk to their providers about what next steps might need to occur if their cancer were to recur. I think it’s helpful in some ways to have these conversations even before cervical cancer has come back, because it allows the patient to be thinking of what might be down the pipeline. It also helps the provider think what options they might have for this patient, whether they’re these new antibody drug conjugates or if there’s a new clinical trial that this patient could enroll in.
It kind of keeps the, it gets the ball rolling. I also encourage patients to think about their body holistically, think about their nutrition, think about their physical activity, because we could have a really good treatment option for recurrent cancer. But sometimes patients are not able to receive that therapy, because they have a poor performance status or their nutritional status isn’t good enough. And we worry about the toxicity of these therapies. So sometimes this is unavoidable, but I really encourage patients, when you’re feeling good, do lots, you know, eat well, stay active, try to keep your body as healthy as possible.
Lisa Hatfield:
Okay, thank you. Now, are there currently FDA-approved antibody drug conjugates, and is it just for recurrent cervical cancer, or can it be used for early stage cervical cancer or frontline therapy even in more advanced stage?
Dr. Abigail Zamorano:
There’s one antibody drug conjugate that is approved for cervical cancer, and it is just in the recurrent setting at this time. But this is a new frontier in the field of cancer therapy, and so I expect that there will be more within years.
Lisa Hatfield:
Okay, thank you. And then if a patient does have recurrent cancer and is interested in the antibody drug conjugate, but doesn’t live near, maybe doesn’t live near an academic center or in a big metropolitan area. Can these be delivered at a community hospital? Or where can they find these treatments?
Dr. Abigail Zamorano:
These should be available no matter where you live. We always encourage patients with gynecologic cancers to see a gynecologic oncologist. But we also recognize that not every patient lives next to a gynecologic oncologist. And so there are really wonderful medical oncologists that are very well-equipped to treat gynecologic malignancies, including cervical cancer, and they would be able to deliver these antibody drug conjugates.
