Samsung Seoul Hospital Women's Cancer Center Announces Preclinical Treatment Analysis Results for Uterine Sarcoma

Effectiveness of Combined Therapy with Anticancer Drugs Cabozantinib and Temozolomide Demonstrated

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A research team led by Professors Lee Jung-won and Noh Joon-ho from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Gynecologic Cancer Center of Samsung Medical Center announced on the 18th that they published the results of preclinical treatment analyses using animal and cell experiments with recurrent uterine sarcoma cancer tissues in the international clinical journal 'Clinical Cancer Research.'

Uterine sarcoma is a rare disease accounting for about 3-7% of all uterine cancers. It is a difficult cancer even for obstetricians and gynecologists due to frequent recurrence and challenging treatment. The initial treatment for uterine sarcoma is surgical operation, but the recurrence rate reaches about 50%, and there are many cases of distant metastasis, making it one of the malignant diseases with poor prognosis. In particular, recurrent uterine sarcoma requires systemic chemotherapy, but there are few drugs proven effective so far, making the development of new drugs urgently needed.

According to the research team, when uterine sarcoma tissues obtained from cancer patients were transplanted and grown in mouse models, the growth of cancer cells and tissues in mouse models treated with a combination of cabozantinib and temozolomide was significantly inhibited compared to those treated with either drug alone, and cell apoptosis was increased. This suggests that the combination therapy of cabozantinib and temozolomide may be effective in treating uterine sarcoma. The models treated with both drugs did not show weight loss or other side effects caused by the drugs.

Cabozantinib is currently used as an anticancer drug for treating renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma in South Korea, and temozolomide is used for treating malignant nervous system diseases such as glioblastoma and medulloblastoma. Neither drug is currently used for gynecologic cancer treatment, so demonstrating therapeutic effects in uterine sarcoma through combination therapy is noteworthy for the development of new uterine sarcoma treatments.

Professor Lee Jung-won said, "This study will greatly help develop new treatments for uterine sarcoma, for which treatment options have been very limited until now." This study met the criteria for the preclinical trial phase and is planned to be expanded to clinical phase 2.

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