A study shows that adding a course of induction chemotherapy (IC) before standard chemoradiation (CRT) can improve survival for patients with advanced cervical cancer.
The Phase III INTERLACE trial, funded by Cancer Research UK, found that this combined approach lowers the risk of death by 40% and reduces recurrence by 35%.
The research, led by University College London and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was published in The Lancet.
Since CRT became the standard treatment in 1999, up to 30% of cervical cancer patients still experience local recurrence despite advances in radiation.
This trial tested whether a six-week course of carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy before CRT could reduce relapse and death in patients without metastasis.
The study included 500 patients from the UK, India and Brazil, with a median age of 46. Patients either received standard CRT – external beam radiotherapy with weekly cisplatin and brachytherapy – or IC followed by CRT.
The results were striking after a minimum of five years of follow-up: 80% of those given IC plus CRT were alive, and 73% had no recurrence, compared to 72% and 64% in the CRT-only group. Five patients have now been cancer-free for over a decade.
Dr Mary McCormack from the UCL Cancer Institute said: ‘Adding induction chemotherapy to standard treatment significantly improves survival and reduces relapse rates. This protocol uses widely available drugs and is easy to implement in clinical practice. We believe it should now be included in international cervical cancer treatment guidelines.’
The study highlights the importance of timing in treatment. Dr Iain Foulkes from Cancer Research UK added: ‘Starting chemoradiation with an induction chemotherapy phase shows impressive survival gains. With global access to these drugs, this approach could be adopted widely, raising treatment standards worldwide.’
With cervical cancer often affecting younger women, typically diagnosed in their 30s, the INTERLACE trial offers hope for better long-term outcomes.
Cervical cancer’s current five-year survival rate is around 70%, but adding IC before CRT could improve these odds for many.
Based on these findings, researchers urge the IC-CRT protocol to be quickly added to national and international guidelines, making it widely available to cancer treatment centres worldwide.
