Newswise — Boston – An analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial for patients with stage 3 colon cancer found that those with PIK3CA mutations who took celecoxib, an anti-inflammatory drug, after surgery lived significantly longer and had longer disease-free survival compared to those without the mutation. The study, highlighting a potential breakthrough in personalized cancer treatment, was led by clinical investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. These findings are the first clinical trial results to validate previous observations that adjuvant anti-inflammatory prostaglandin inhibitors, such as celecoxib, improve survival for PIK3CA -mutated colon cancer.
The results are published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “These findings strengthen a growing body of evidence suggesting that prostaglandin inhibitors could benefit a subgroup of patients with colon cancer,” says Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH , senior author and co-director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute . “They suggest a potential personalized approach to additional therapy for patients with early-stage colon cancer.
” After primary treatment for stage 3 colon cancer, patients typically receive adjuvant chemotherapy intended to reduce the risk of the cancer returning. In a subset of these patients, the cancer returns, and those patients have few treatment options. Through collaborative research across Dana-Farber .
