The fight against a particularly widespread and aggressive lymphoma has made major progress, of which Professor Hervé Tilly, hematologist at the Center Henri-Becquerel, is one of the great artisans.
Serene from the height of his 69 years and from his office on the 7th floor of the Center Henri-Becquerel, Professor Hervé Tilly continues to postpone retirement, committed as he is to the fight against his lifelong enemy: lymphoma, a cancer ganglia.
“This blood cancer affects the immune system. It affects organs such as the spleen, tonsils or bone marrow. It is the 6th most common cancer in France. There are several types, including the most common , diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (LBGC). We have just made a significant advance in its treatment, which had not seen any improvement for twenty years.”
The promises of the Polarix study
The drug used consists of a coupled antibody, polatuzumab vedotin (Polivy for the future trade name), which specifically targets cancer cells. It is associated with a molecule of chemotherapy which will destroy the tumor cell from the inside. “The antibody recognizes the cancerous cell, it attaches to it, it integrates it and dies when it releases vedotin, a spindle poison. Compared to standard chemo, this treatment makes it possible not to affect healthy cells, therefore reduce side effects. Better efficacy and no more toxicity.”
A study called Polarix published in January shows a 27% reduction in the risk of relapse or progression of the disease. 879 patients from 23 countries on five continents took part in this trial. “In agreement with the manufacturer of the drug (Roche), the Polarix study was initiated by the national cooperating group Lysa (Lymphoma Study Association), a clinical research network whose scientific council is led by a member of the Henri-Becquerel Center, underlines Hervé Tilly. Our institution has been involved since the first phase of the study, more than a decade ago. At the start, the trial only concerned cases of relapse. The good results of this third phase could change the treatment of first line of patients with LBGC.”
A decade at the head of the Center Becquerel
“First line” treatment or “primary” treatment, that is to say the first choice of doctors. It remains to wait a few months for marketing authorization, a step that tastes like victory for Hervé Tilly, president of Eli (European Lymphoma Institute). This Parisian by birth joined the Rouen University Hospital in 1977 as an intern after his medical studies at Saint-Antoine Hospital. “I chose the specialization in hematology because it allowed me both to take care of patients and to be interested in biological and clinical research.”
Today the lymphoma expert has reduced the care part to consultations but his activity on the research front is not weakening. He travels to Paris several times a month for Lysa meetings, while the next Eli workshops will take him to Amsterdam and then Dubrovnik (Prague, Lisbon and Lyon in 2021). Hang up the white coat to see more of his one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter at his home in Belbeuf? Not on the agenda: “I still have projects.” The Henri-Becquerel Center, which he directed from 2007 to 2017, will not complain.
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