A recent study suggests that a new immunobased treatment could treat tumors in cancer patients without them undergoing surgery or chemotherapy.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggested that 92 per cent of patients who used the new immunotherapy drug, dostarlimab, to shrink their tumors showed no signs of cancer recurrence for a minimum of two years.
The study was conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and 82 out of 103 participants no longer needed an operation. Researchers shared that of the 54 patients with a “variety of cancers,” 35 had “all signs of their cancer” disappear and were using the immuno-based treatment.
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Dr. Andrea Cercek associated with the trial, said, “Nearly 2 out of 3 patients with types of cancer other than rectal were able to preserve their organs and their quality of life. This is a very significant response, and the results were even better than we had hoped. We found that some cancer types responded extremely well to the immunotherapy, including colon and stomach cancer.”
Dr. Cerek reported that “20% of non-rectal cancer patients” who still had to undergo surgery “saw lower rates of cancer recurrence”. She said this suggests that “even if the effect wasn’t a home run, it helped most patients.”
The trial was conducted in patients that had had tumors that were stage I-3. The tumors also had a genetic mutation called mismatch repair-deficient (MMRd) – a defect in the body’s natural DNA repair system that can lead to the buildup of genetic errors.
