Chicago. Cancer research has just given reason for hope for those with a grade 2 glioma with IDH gene mutationa malignant brain tumor for which an oral treatment has been discovered that manages to halt its evolution for several years.

The results of the Phase III INDIGO study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which took place from last Friday to this Tuesday in Chicago, and were also published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The US-led study included 331 patients in 10 countries, including Spain.

The October 12 Hospital in Madrid, which was part of the investigation, explains this these low-grade gliomas with IDH gene mutations account for about 30% of brain tumors. They grow continuously but slowly, infiltrate the brain and eventually become aggressive tumors with accelerated growth and severe symptoms.

Sufferers tend to be young, between 25 and 50 years old, and their current treatment involves surgery to remove it and radiation and chemotherapy to keep it under control, but the last two have significant toxicity.

Patients participating in the study underwent only surgical intervention.

According to Dr. Juan Manuel Sepúlveda, coordinator of the neuro-oncology department at the 12 October Hospital and the only Spanish author, INDIGO is the first phase III study conducted in patients of this type who have not undergone radiation or chemotherapy. that essay His center began recruiting patients to him in 2020.

Although Chemoradiation therapy can prolong life in good conditions from 5 to 20 years, but over time its side effects turn into cognitive impairment and problems with motor skills and concentrationamong other.

He the inhibitor vorasidenib, the protagonist of the study, has been shown to preserve and improve cognitive and functional abilities, and therefore the quality of life of patients for many yearsstopping tumor progression and delaying aggressive treatment.

The pill extended progression-free survival by an average of 27.7 months compared to 11.1 months for those taking a placebo, and delayed the need for aggressive treatment by more than 40 months, in some cases indefinitely.

ASCO states on its website that the most common adverse side effects of vorasidenib were transaminase enzyme elevations and diarrhea. In addition, the treatment was well tolerated.

“The latest approval of vorasidenib may delay the need for more aggressive treatments, marking a paradigm shift in this disease. This is a really important step toward less toxic and more precise cancer therapy for these young patients,” says neuro-oncologist Ingo Mellinghoff of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, lead author of the study.