2024-02-22 01:43:10
The news was overwhelming. Newly retired and with her children all grown up, Robin had just started a new chapter in her life. This chapter has been overrun with doctor appointments, medical tests, and strange new medications.
This text is a translation of a article from CTV News.
“When I look back on that time, it was very emotional. It was very difficult, just to accept that this was happening,” Robin, 53, told CTV News.
“I had to have some discussions with my husband that I wish I didn’t have to have at this time in my life. But we just decided together, we’re just going to do it. We will focus on treatments.”
And only a few months following these treatments, things are improving: the lump in Robin’s breast has disappeared. This is promising news from an ongoing clinical trial called TROPION-Breast04, which uses a new combination of therapies to target cancer. Robin is the first person in the world to receive this experimental treatment.
“I’m happy to contribute to science, to maybe help other women feel very optimistic if they are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, that there is hope.”
Robin Berman
Robin is being treated at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (IR-MUHC) in Montreal. She is under the care of Dr. Jamil Asselah, a leading oncologist in Quebec and member of the trial’s steering committee.
«[Robin] was the first person to start worldwide. We were the first country in the world to open the study, [et le] IR-CUSM was the first site in the world,” Asselah said in an interview.
The trial has since gone global, with 19 countries signed up to participate. So far, the results are promising.
“These are randomized trials, which means that half of the patients receive standard care, which consists of traditional chemotherapy, and the other half receive the experimental treatment,” explained the doctor. All the patients following the experimental treatment are doing very well, at least as we see it here at the MUHC.”
A cancer that is difficult to treat
Between 10 and 15% of breast cancer cases are triple negative, according to the most recent data. This type of cancer lacks any of the receptors usually found in breast cancer: estrogen, progesterone, and a protein called human epidermal growth factor.
This means that treatments targeting these receptors, such as hormone therapy, are not effective. And if the cancer progresses enough, it is more likely to come back.
“That’s the challenge: we give classic chemotherapy, which kills bad cells and healthy cells, but it is not specific to triple negative breast cancer. And that’s why we don’t have very good success stories,” Asselah explained.
“If you don’t treat it early, if you don’t give the best systemic treatment early, the risk of recurrence is very high.”
The new treatment uses what doctors call an antibody-drug conjugate, intended to target tumor cells without harming healthy cells. This investigational drug, called Dato-DXd, is combined with the immunotherapy drug Durvalumab, which is already on the market.
“When we do this combination, we expect to have fewer side effects and a higher complete pathologic response,” Asselah explained.
So far, Robin has undergone four of the eight rounds of treatment she will receive before surgery, during which tissue will be removed for analysis.
“We remove the specimen, the cancer bed, and we give the specimen to our colleagues and they check under the microscope to see if they find any invasive cells. If they don’t find invasive cells, we win,” Asselah summarized.
After surgery, Robin will undergo eight more rounds of treatment.
Prepare for the future
Although there is still a way to go in his cancer journey, Robin is optimistic. She said she felt an almost instantaneous change following starting therapy.
“Feeling the drug attack your tumor in this way is like a homing missile. And the following month, I no longer felt the tumor.
Since then, “I’ve had a mammogram and ultrasound to prepare for my surgery. And the radiologist told me there was nothing left on my scan.”
As she endures the rest of her treatments, Robin anticipates what lies ahead.
“I decided I had to do something for myself, for my future, because doing something for my future gives me a future,” she said.
Passionate regarding hiking and bird watching, she enrolled in a program in late 2023 to become a “forest bathing” guide. Forest bathing, also called shinrin-yoku, is a therapeutic practice developed in Japan that promotes a conscious connection with nature.
«[Il s’agit de] using nature, reconnecting with nature to help heal your body and prevent chronic disease, Robin said. So when this is all over, I can continue to do this and maybe help other women who are going through the same thing — using nature to help heal their bodies.”
In the meantime, she encourages all women in a similar situation to hers to educate themselves regarding all their options.
“I would say, ask your oncologist if there are any trials you can participate in. Not only do you advance science, but you can also have access to new medicines.”
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