Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine, Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bilici's international study on the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic gastric or gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma was published in the LANCET journal with an impact factor of 168.9.

The study, carried out with the contributions of Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bilici from Atatürk University, was published in the journal ‘LANCET’ with the title ‘Pembrolizumab plus trastuzumab and chemotherapy for HER2-positive gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma: interim analyses from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-811 randomised placebo-controlled trial’. Scientists from 168 medical centres in 20 countries including Turkey, USA, China, Japan, Italy, France, Chile, Poland, Ukraine, Ukraine, South Korea, Belgium and Spain contributed to this international study.

Within the scope of the study, compared to placebo, the immunotherapy agent pembrolizumab significantly improved response and survival parameters, especially when administered in combination with trastuzumab and chemotherapy in the first-line setting in metastatic HER2-positive gastric and/or gastro-oesophageal cancer patients with a PD-L1 combined positive score of 1 or above.

A Promising Study on Common Disease Types in Turkey

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bilici gave information about the studies carried out in the units of Atatürk University Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology and stated that gastric and gastro-oesophageal cancers are much more common in our region than in other regions, that they are currently conducting more than 20 randomised clinical trials, most of which are Phase III, and that patients have the opportunity to access new effective targeted therapies such as immunotherapy and trozine kinase inhibitors with these studies.

Prof. Dr. Bilici stated that the fact that the KEYNOTE-811 study was published in a journal such as Lancet, which is one of the most important journals of the medical world with the highest impact factor, is proud for Atatürk University and that the study was also presented at the ESMO-2023 and ASCO GI-2024 congresses, which are also among the most important congresses of oncology.

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bilici thanked Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı, who supported them in the conduct of clinical studies, and Prof. Dr. Fatih Alper, Head of the Department of Radiology, who contributed significantly to these studies radiologically, and all other clinical colleagues, and stated that they continue to conduct multi-centre clinical studies that bring new effective treatment methods for all cancers to the people of our region and reveal new treatment modalities in the field of oncology.

Rector Çomaklı: ‘The Achievements of Our Scientists Make Us Proud’

Stating that Atatürk University undertakes a very important mission in addition to providing quality education and graduating qualified students, Atatürk University Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı stated that it provides important gains to the scientific community with its Research and Development studies and that it is in a leading position with this feature. In this context, Çomaklı stated that they have carried out important studies as a university: ‘We have accelerated our university with the breakthroughs made within the framework of the vision of the New Generation University Design and Transformation Project. With the reform innovations we made, our university gained the status of Research University. In addition, the education it provides was accredited and registered by YÖKAK. Along with these, we have started to rise in reputable ranking organisations in the world. All these achievements were obtained as a result of the outstanding efforts of our scientists. Today, we are experiencing the happiness of the success achieved by Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bilici, one of the faculty members of our Faculty of Medicine. I congratulate him and his work team and wish him continued success.’

Links

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02033-0/fulltext

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0923753423044721

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0923753423044721

https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.oncologymeetings.org/prod/s3fs-public/2024-01/GI24-Esophageal-and-Gastric-Cancer.pdf

 CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE - 23.01.2024