A subset of locally advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients achieve significant therapeutic benefit from preoperative radiation therapy (RT) as shown by Pisters JCO 1996 and Yang JCO 2018. However, the impact of RT on pathological response (pR) and R0 resection is limited, highlighting the need for novel multimodal therapies aimed at local control. NBTXR3 (hafnium oxide nanoparticles), injected intratumorally may represent such an option. Otherwise inert, NBTXR3 augments the effective RT dose deposited within tumor cells when activated by ionizing radiation to increase cancer cell death compared to RT alone. […]
Doubling complete histological response in sarcomas with radiation therapy using nanoparticles (Hafnium oxide, NBTXR3), a phase III trial.
Radiotherapy (RT) has proven its ability to function like an in-situ vaccine, showing potential for successful combination with immunotherapeutic agents. Hafnium oxide nanoparticle (HfO2-NP), undergoing clinical trials for enhancing RT, was designed as high electron density material at the nanoscale. HfO2-NPs are taken up by cancer cells and, when exposed to RT, locally increase the radiation dose deposit, triggering more cancer cells death when compared to RT. We hypothesized that HfO2-NP+RT could trigger an enhanced immune response when compared to RT, both in preclinical and clinical settings.