New project gives cancer patient Gunhild (33) hope for several years – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
– I felt like a chosen princess, says Gunhild Næss.
She is one of the patients with severe and advanced cancer who is now testing medication they would not normally receive.
Traditional methods such as cytotoxic drugs and radiation are effective for many, but also cause damage and lead to side effects. New methods work more accurately on the cell.
Norwegian cancer researchers are now receiving international attention for their national collaboration and trials of a number of medics.
– Precision medicine is the latest in modern diagnostics and cancer research, says Professor Kjetil Taskén.
The precision of the cancer treatment takes place through experimental treatment adapted to each individual tumor. All the hospitals around the country that treat cancer are involved in the initiative, and the project is mentioned in the renowned journal Natural medicine.
43 percent of patients starting treatment have had uplifting results. The spread of the cancer cells has stopped, and one patient has got rid of the brain tumor.
The answer lies in the genes of the tumor
Every year, around 10,000 people are diagnosed with advanced cancer. It is cancer with spread around the tumor or elsewhere in the body.
– Cancerous tumors develop differently. What genetic changes the cells have depends on what is called a molecular profile. Therefore, the treatment is tailored to each patient, says Taskén.
The work is still in the starting group. The goal is for everyone with advanced cancer who cannot recover to be offered a personalized treatment.
Life was different
The 33-year-old from Stavanger has experienced more illness than most people her age. When she was 24, she received the brutal message that she had ovarian cancer.
– Cancer is a lonely disease with a lot of fear and grief. You are attacked from the inside, Gunhild says.
Life before cancer was friends, studies, surfing on Jærstrendene and snowboarding. The disease has made her partially disabled. She works as a sexologist, but not full time as before.
For ten years she has been through tough treatments with radiation and three rounds of chemotherapy. Last year, she stopped treatment. She could not take it anymore.
When Gunhild read about a new, Norwegian cancer study, she still asked the doctor to apply for the opportunity to join. Blood samples and a biopsy were submitted and she was included in the IMPRESS study.
– The offer to participate was the last card on hand. Then it was just a matter of jumping in, says Gunhild.
The genes in the cancer cells in the ovaries were similar to those found in another type of cancer. The doctors therefore wanted to try Herceptin, which is used against breast cancer. Since October last year, she has received one injection a year every three weeks.
Now the doctors are seeing positive results.
– Before I started on the effects, I had a spread of small cancerous tumors in the peritoneum that look like small grains of rice. The new MRI images show that the rice grains have been at rest since the previous inspection. And one has become smaller.
It gives her some hope. That she, who is only 33 years old, can live a good while longer.
Unique collaboration
In one year, the country’s cancer researchers have been given a common platform to collaborate on the treatment Gunhild receives. The three initiatives InPred, IMPRESS-Norway and the public-private partnership Connect are now collaborating on the development of precision medicine in Norway.
– This is a chance to join a big boost, so here are many, says Taskén.
The fact that Norwegian researchers have managed to start a national clinical study in such a short time arouses international interest.
– We focus on the joint initiative, not individuals or institutions. We have a good culture in Norway, the professor explains.
Every week, around 50 specialists from all over the country meet digitally to discuss the patients’ progress and course of treatment.
– Benefits the whole of Norway
To date, almost 300 patients have been evaluated for experimental treatment. There are patients with advanced cancer who have tried other forms of treatment. The researchers have 16 different medicines available, which can possibly be used based on re-changes in the patients’ cancer cells.
Of the cancer patients who have been assessed so far, 69 patients have been given the opportunity to try new medicines.
– Unfortunately, we can not help everyone who is assessed. There must be a match between the cancerous genetic profile of the cancerous tumor and a medicine we believe can have an effect, the professor says.
For patients with match, it means more and better treatment, researchers get to assess the effect of different drugs on new cancers and the pharmaceutical industry gets to use drugs in other patient groups.
– Such a large study depends on the money and the research benefits patients throughout Norway, says Taskén.
All of the country’s 17 hospitals that treat cancer patients are involved in the work, which now has a funding of NOK 200 million.
Dreaming of experiencing his 40th birthday
Gunhild Næss is characterized by ten years of cancer. She never had the opportunity to have children, and she has not had the energy to have a boyfriend.
The disease has taken up a lot of space and stolen energy. When she feels a little extra energy, she goes out to Jærstrendene to surf.
She will take the breast cancer medicine until it stops working or the side effects become too great. It gives hope.
– The dream is to be completely healthy, but it is not realistic. I forces can withdraw. A huge 40th birthday had been wonderful.