Immuno-oncology (or immunotherapy) and precision medicine are the newest developments in the treatment of advanced cancer. Immuno-oncology helps to restore the body’s immune system and improves outcomes when administered alone or in combination with chemotherapy.
Standard treatment options for cervical cancer are surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
Immunotherapy is class of treatments that take advantage of a person’s own immune system to help kill cancer cells. There are currently three FDA-approved immunotherapy options for the treatment of cervical cancer.
Targeted Antibodies
- Bevacizumab (Avastin®): a monoclonal antibody that targets the VEGF/VEGFR pathway and inhibits tumor blood vessel growth; approved for subsets of patients with advanced cervical cancer in combination with chemotherapy
- Tisotumab vedotin (Tivdak™): an antibody-drug conjugate that targets tissue factor (TF); approved for subsets of patients with advanced cervical cancer
Immunomodulators
- Dostarlimab (Jemperli): a checkpoint inhibitor that targets the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway; approved for subsets of patients with advanced cervical cancer that has DNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR
- Pembrolizumab (Keytruda®): a checkpoint inhibitor that targets the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway; approved for subsets of patients with advanced cervical cancer that has PD-L1 expression, high microsatellite instability (MSI-H), DNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), or high tumor mutational burden (TMB-H)
Other vaccines and immunotherapies that target HPV-infected tumors are also currently being tested in clinical trials.
The goal of immunotherapy is to help the immune system recognize and eliminate cancer cells by either activating the immune system directly, or by inhibiting mechanisms of suppression of the cancer.
In an attempt to improve the chance of cure, immunotherapies are being tested alone or in combination with chemotherapy in clinical trials.