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Recurrent cervical cancer is a life-threatening disease, with limited treatment options available when disease progression occurs after first-line combination therapy. We conducted a phase 3, multinational, open-label trial of tisotumab vedotin as second- or third-line therapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. Patients were randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, to receive tisotumab vedotin monotherapy (2.0 mg per kilogram of body weight every 3 weeks) or the investigator's choice of chemotherapy (topotecan, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, irinotecan, or pemetrexed). The primary end point was overall survival. A total of 502 patients underwent randomization (253 were assigned to the tisotumab vedotin group and 249 to the chemotherapy group); the groups were similar with respect to demographic and disease characteristics. The median overall survival was significantly longer in the tisotumab vedotin group than in the chemotherapy group (11.5 months [95% confidence interval {CI}, 9.8 to 14.9] vs. 9.5 months [95% CI, 7.9 to 10.7]), results that represented a 30% lower risk of death with tisotumab vedotin than with chemotherapy (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.89; two-sided P = 0.004). The median progression-free survival was 4.2 months (95% CI, 4.0 to 4.4) with tisotumab vedotin and 2.9 months (95% CI, 2.6 to 3.1) with chemotherapy (hazard ratio, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.82; two-sided P<0.001). The confirmed objective response rate was 17.8% in the tisotumab vedotin group and 5.2% in the chemotherapy group (odds ratio, 4.0; 95% CI, 2.1 to 7.6; two-sided P<0.001). A total of 98.4% of patients in the tisotumab vedotin group and 99.2% in the chemotherapy group had at least one adverse event that occurred during the treatment period (defined as the period from day 1 of dose 1 until 30 days after the last dose); grade 3 or greater events occurred in 52.0% and 62.3%, respectively. A total of 14.8% of patients stopped tisotumab vedotin treatment because of toxic effects. In patients with recurrent cervical cancer, second- or third-line treatment with tisotumab vedotin resulted in significantly greater efficacy than chemotherapy. (Funded by Genmab and Seagen [acquired by Pfizer]; innovaTV 301 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04697628.).

Among patients with leiomyosarcoma, a combination of doxorubicin and trabectedin with prolonged trabectedin maintenance therapy led to longer overall survival than doxorubicin alone (median, 33 vs. 24 months).

Nivolumab is a human monoclonal antibody against the immune checkpoint receptor programmed death‐1, inhibiting binding to programmed death‐ligand 1 or 2 (PD‐L1 or PD‐L2). This phase 2 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of nivolumab in patients with advanced/recurrent uterine cervical cancer, uterine corpus cancer, or soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Patients received nivolumab 240 mg at 2‐week intervals. Primary endpoint was objective response rate; secondary endpoints included overall survival, progression‐free survival, and safety. PD‐L1 expression and microsatellite‐instability (MSI) status were analyzed as potential efficacy biomarkers. Objective response rate was 25%, 23%, and 0% in patients with cervical cancer (n = 20), corpus cancer (n = 22), and STS (n = 21), respectively. The lower 80% confidence intervals of objective response rates in patients with cervical or corpus cancer exceeded the threshold rate (5%); the primary endpoint was met in cervical and corpus cancer, but not in STS. Median progression‐free survival was 5.6, 3.4, and 1.4 months, and 6‐month overall survival was 84%, 73%, and 86% in cervical cancer, corpus cancer, and STS, respectively. The objective response rate was higher in patients with cervical cancer with PD‐L1‐positive (n = 5/15; 33%) versus PD‐L1‐negative (n = 0/5; 0%) tumors. The two patients with corpus cancer classified as MSI‐high responded; the six patients classified as microsatellite stable did not respond. Overall, nivolumab showed acceptable toxicity in all cohorts, with evidence of clinical activity in uterine cervical or corpus cancer, but not in STS. PD‐L1 expression in cervical cancer and MSI‐high in corpus cancer may predict clinical activity of nivolumab in these cancers. The present study of the programmed death‐1 inhibitor nivolumab showed acceptable toxicity in all cohorts, with evidence of clinical activity in patients with advanced/recurrent uterine cervical or corpus cancer, but not in those with soft tissue sarcoma. Programmed death‐ligand 1 expression in cervical cancer, and microsatellite instability‐high in corpus cancer, may predict clinical activity of nivolumab.

Background Female-specific cancers, particularly breast, cervical, ovarian, and uterine cancers, account for nearly 40% of all cancers in women. This study aimed to analyze the global epidemiological trends of these cancers from 1990 to 2021, offering insights into their evolving patterns and providing valuable information for health policymakers to allocate healthcare resources more effectively. Methods Data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 (GBD 2021) were used to comprehensively assess the global incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of female-specific cancers. Age-standardized rates facilitated cross-regional comparisons, accounting for differences in population size and demographics. The socio-demographic index (SDI) was employed to categorize regions and evaluate correlations between cancer burden and economic level. In addition, risk factors attributable to female-specific cancer deaths and DALYs were assessed based on the comparative risk assessment model of the GBD project. Results From 1990 to 2021, the global burden of female-specific cancers increased at varying rates. In 2021, breast cancer accounted for 2.08 million incident cases, 0.66 million deaths, and 20.25 million DALYs globally. In comparison, cervical, ovarian, and uterine cancers had lower burdens, with 0.67 million, 0.30 million, and 0.47 million incident cases, respectively. Age-standardized rates of breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers showed positive correlations with SDI, while cervical cancer exhibited a negative correlation. Attributable risk factors for breast cancer-associated deaths in 2021 included dietary risks, high body-mass index (BMI), high fasting plasma glucose, alcohol use, tobacco use, and low physical activity. Additional risk factors were unsafe sex and tobacco use for cervical cancer, high BMI and occupational risks for ovarian cancer, and high BMI for uterine cancer. Conclusions The burden of female-specific cancers has increased in recent decades, with significant demographic and regional discrepancies. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted public health interventions to mitigate the global impact of these cancers.

In this prospective randomized trial, minimally invasive radical hysterectomy resulted in lower rates of disease-free survival and overall survival than open abdominal radical hysterectomy among women with early-stage cervical cancer. A prospective randomized trial and an epidemiologic study that used large cancer databases (National Cancer Database and SEER) both showed that minimally invasive radical hysterectomy was associated with shorter survival in early cervical cancer than open abdominal radical hysterectomy.

Few effective second-line treatments exist for women with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. Accordingly, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tisotumab vedotin, a tissue factor-directed antibody–drug conjugate, in this patient population. This multicentre, open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study was done across 35 academic centres, hospitals, and community practices in Europe and the USA. The study included patients aged 18 years or older who had recurrent or metastatic squamous cell, adenocarcinoma, or adenosquamous cervical cancer; disease progression on or after doublet chemotherapy with bevacizumab (if eligible by local standards); who had received two or fewer previous systemic regimens for recurrent or metastatic disease; had measurable disease based on Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST; version 1.1); and had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1. Patients received 2·0 mg/kg (up to a maximum of 200 mg) tisotumab vedotin intravenously once every 3 weeks until disease progression (determined by the independent review committee) or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was confirmed objective response rate based on RECIST (version 1.1), as assessed by the independent review committee. Activity and safety analyses were done in patients who received at least one dose of the drug. This study is ongoing with recruitment completed and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03438396. 102 patients were enrolled between June 12, 2018, and April 11, 2019; 101 patients received at least one dose of tisotumab vedotin. Median follow-up at the time of analysis was 10·0 months (IQR 6·1–13·0). The confirmed objective response rate was 24% (95% CI 16–33), with seven (7%) complete responses and 17 (17%) partial responses. The most common treatment-related adverse events included alopecia (38 [38%] of 101 patients), epistaxis (30 [30%]), nausea (27 [27%]), conjunctivitis (26 [26%]), fatigue (26 [26%]), and dry eye (23 [23%]). Grade 3 or worse treatment-related adverse events were reported in 28 (28%) patients and included neutropenia (three [3%] patients), fatigue (two [2%]), ulcerative keratitis (two [2%]), and peripheral neuropathies (two [2%] each with sensory, motor, sensorimotor, and neuropathy peripheral). Serious treatment-related adverse events occurred in 13 (13%) patients, the most common of which included peripheral sensorimotor neuropathy (two [2%] patients) and pyrexia (two [2%]). One death due to septic shock was considered by the investigator to be related to therapy. Three deaths unrelated to treatment were reported, including one case of ileus and two unknown causes. Tisotumab vedotin showed clinically meaningful and durable antitumour activity with a manageable and tolerable safety profile in women with previously treated recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. Given the poor prognosis for this patient population and the low activity of current therapies in this setting, tisotumab vedotin, if approved, would represent a new treatment for women with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. Genmab, Seagen, Gynaecologic Oncology Group, and European Network of Gynaecological Oncological Trial Groups.

A randomized, double-blind trial compared pembrolizumab with placebo in patients with advanced cervical cancer who were also receiving platinum-based chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab. The median progression-free survival was 10.4 months with pembrolizumab and 8.2 months with placebo. Overall survival at 2 years was 50.4% and 40.4%, respectively.

Cervical cancer that relapses after platinum-containing chemotherapy is often refractory to salvage therapy. Cemiplimab, a fully human antibody to PD-1, was compared with single-agent chemotherapy with pemetrexed, gemcitabine, irinotecan, topotecan, or vinorelban. Among 608 patients, median overall survival was 8.5 months with chemotherapy and 12.0 months with cemiplimab.

Locally advanced cervical cancer is treated with chemoradiotherapy (standard of care), but many patients still relapse and die from metastatic disease. We investigated chemoradiotherapy with or without induction chemotherapy to determine whether induction chemotherapy improves both progression-free survival and overall survival. The INTERLACE trial was a multicentre, randomised phase 3 trial done at 32 medical centres in Brazil, India, Italy, Mexico, and the UK. Adults (aged ≥18 years) with locally advanced cervical cancer (FIGO 2008 stage IB1 disease with nodal involvement, or stage IB2, IIA, IIB, IIIB, or IVA disease) were randomly assigned (1:1), by minimisation, using a central electronic system, to standard cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy (once-a-week intravenous cisplatin 40 mg/m2 for 5 weeks with 45·0–50·4 Gy external beam radiotherapy delivered in 20–28 fractions plus brachytherapy to achieve a minimum total 2 Gy equivalent dose of 78–86 Gy) alone or induction chemotherapy (once-a-week intravenous carboplatin area under the receiver operator curve 2 and paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 for 6 weeks) followed by standard cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy. Stratification factors were recruiting site, stage, nodal status, three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy or intensity modulated radiotherapy, age, tumour size, and histology (squamous vs non-squamous). Primary endpoints were progression-free survival and overall survival within the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01566240, and EUDRACT, 2011-001300-35. Between Nov 8, 2012, and Nov 17, 2022, 500 eligible patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to the chemoradiotherapy alone group (n=250) or the induction chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy group. Of 500 patients, 354 (70%) had stage IIB disease and 56 (11%) stage IIIB disease. Pelvic lymph nodes were positive in 215 (43%) patients. 230 (92%) patients who received induction chemotherapy had at least five cycles. Median interval between induction chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy was 7 days. Four or more cycles of cisplatin were given to 212 (85%) participants in the induction chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy group and to 224 (90%) of participants in the chemoradiotherapy alone group. 462 (92%) participants received external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy with a median overall treatment time of 45 days. After a median follow-up of 67 months, 5-year progression-free survival rates were 72% in the induction chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy group and 64% in the chemoradiotherapy alone group with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0·65 (95% CI 0·46–0·91, p=0·013). 5-year overall survival rates were 80% in the induction chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy group and 72% in the chemoradiotherapy alone group, with an HR of 0·60 (95% CI 0·40–0·91, p=0·015). Grade 3 or greater adverse events were reported in 147 (59%) of 250 individuals in the induction chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy group versus 120 (48%) of 250 individuals in the chemoradiotherapy alone group. Short-course induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy significantly improves survival of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. Cancer Research UK and University College London–University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.

At the first interim analysis of the phase 3 ENGOT-cx11/GOG-3047/KEYNOTE-A18 study, the addition of pembrolizumab to chemoradiotherapy provided a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. We report the overall survival results from the second interim analysis of this study. Eligible patients with newly diagnosed, high-risk (FIGO 2014 stage IB2–IIB with node-positive disease or stage III–IVA regardless of nodal status), locally advanced, histologically confirmed, squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, or adenosquamous cervical cancer were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive five cycles of pembrolizumab (200 mg) or placebo every 3 weeks with concurrent chemoradiotherapy, followed by 15 cycles of pembrolizumab (400 mg) or placebo every 6 weeks. Pembrolizumab or placebo and cisplatin were administered intravenously. Patients were stratified at randomisation by planned external beam radiotherapy type (intensity-modulated radiotherapy [IMRT] or volumetric-modulated arc therapy [VMAT] vs non-IMRT or non-VMAT), cervical cancer stage at screening (FIGO 2014 stage IB2–IIB node positive vs III–IVA), and planned total radiotherapy (external beam radiotherapy plus brachytherapy) dose (<70 Gy vs ≥70 Gy [equivalent dose of 2 Gy]). Primary endpoints were progression-free survival per RECIST 1.1 by investigator or by histopathological confirmation of suspected disease progression and overall survival defined as the time from randomisation to death due to any cause. Safety was a secondary endpoint. Between June 9, 2020, and Dec 15, 2022, 1060 patients at 176 sites in 30 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America were randomly assigned to treatment, with 529 patients in the pembrolizumab–chemoradiotherapy group and 531 patients in the placebo–chemoradiotherapy group. At the protocol-specified second interim analysis (data cutoff Jan 8, 2024), median follow-up was 29·9 months (IQR 23·3–34·3). Median overall survival was not reached in either group; 36-month overall survival was 82·6% (95% CI 78·4–86·1) in the pembrolizumab–chemoradiotherapy group and 74·8% (70·1–78·8) in the placebo–chemoradiotherapy group. The hazard ratio for death was 0·67 (95% CI 0·50–0·90; p=0·0040), meeting the protocol-specified primary objective. 413 (78%) of 528 patients in the pembrolizumab–chemoradiotherapy group and 371 (70%) of 530 in the placebo–chemoradiotherapy group had a grade 3 or higher adverse event, with anaemia, white blood cell count decreased, and neutrophil count decreased being the most common adverse events. Potentially immune-mediated adverse events occurred in 206 (39%) of 528 patients in the pembrolizumab–chemoradiotherapy group and 90 (17%) of 530 patients in the placebo–chemoradiotherapy group. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04221945. Pembrolizumab plus chemoradiotherapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer These data, together with results from the first interim analysis, support this immuno-chemoradiotherapy strategy as a new standard of care for this population. Merck Sharp & Dohme, a subsidiary of Merck & Co.