New Advances in Supportive Care: Chemoprotective Agents as Novel Opportunities in Geriatric Oncology

AbstractPurpose of ReviewTo explore the effectiveness of trilaciclib and ALRN-6924 in the prevention of cancer chemotherapy-induced toxicity in older patients. New chemoprotective agents are necessary because age is the main risk factor for chemotherapy complications that account largely for the poorer outcome of cancer in the elderly. Trilaciclib and ALRN-6924 cause a reversible block of the proliferation of normal cells through cell cycle arrest (CCA). With this mechanism, they may prevent the toxicity of cycle-active cancer treatment including neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, lymphopenia, mucositis, and alopecia.Recent FindingsMyelopoietic growth factors may prevent neutropenia in the aged, but they may cause severe bone pain, may aggravate thrombocytopenia and anemia, and may cause myelodysplasia and acute leukemia as a late complication. The prevention of thrombocytopenia, anemia, mucositis, and alopecia is unsatisfactory at present. These complications may jeopardize the treatment outcome as they require a reduction of treatment dose/intensity and because many patients find the resulting symptoms intolerable. In three studies of patients with extensive disease small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), trilaciclib reduced the severity and duration of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia as well as the need for blood transfusions. In addition, it produced a significant expansion of T-cell clones. Trilaciclib received FDA approval for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced myelo...
Source: Current Oncology Reports - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research