Medical treatments use drugs, hormones and other agents to kill cancer cells.
These drugs work against cancer in different ways. Your gynecologic oncologist will choose the drugs and combination of treatments best for you and your cancer.
Chemotherapy for cervical cancer
Chemotherapy uses drugs and other anti-cancer agents to kill cancer cells and prevent them from growing. This treatment is considered a systemic therapy, because the drugs circulate throughout your entire body system. Many different drugs work against cervical cancer, and they work in different ways.
Your gynecologic oncologist will choose the drug — or combination of drugs — based on your personal diagnosis, disease stage and individual situation. These may be given through an intravenous infusion (IV).
Chemoradiation for cervical cancer
Delivering chemotherapy and radiation therapy together is often part of the treatment plan for patients with cervical cancer. This may mean that you start chemotherapy and radiation on the same day and then continue to have weekly chemotherapy infusions during your weeks of radiation treatment. Your gynecologic oncologist and radiation oncologist will work together to plan and deliver your appropriate treatment.
You may have additional chemotherapy (without radiation) if your cervical cancer is advanced, and spread to other areas of the body, or if it has recurred after chemoradiation
Targeted therapy for cervical cancer
Targeted therapies are a class of drugs that attack cancer cells by interfering with certain molecules or components (such as proteins or enzymes) that the cancer cells need to grow. These drugs can target cancer cells because they aim for cells with a specific genetic mutation or unique characteristic that is found only in the cancer cells and not in healthy ones.
One type of targeted therapy blocks a protein that tumors use to form new blood vessels to get the nutrients they need to grow. These drugs are called angiogenesis inhibitors. One targeted drug used for advanced cervical cancer, bevacizumab (Avastin), blocks the protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Blocking VEGF, or stopping VEGF from working, helps prevent the formation of new blood vessels to the tumor, and helps to starve the tumor of nutrients it needs to grow.
Immunotherapy for cervical cancer
Immunotherapy aims to harness the body’s own immune system to fight the cancer. Cancer cells are able to grow in the body because they are adept at hiding from the body’s natural defenses and immune system. Immunotherapy uses drugs and other agents to reveal these cells and trigger the body’s immune system to mount an attack on them.
Immunotherapy agents work in different ways and with different aspects of the immune system. For cervical cancer, immunotherapy may include:
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors. These drugs target certain proteins known as immune checkpoints which work to depress the immune response. The drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is a checkpoint inhibitor may be part of your cervical cancer treatment plan.