Staff of the Inna Foundation continue to acquaint readers with interesting discoveries in the world of oncology. And another piece of news, published on the website of The New England journal of medicine, attracted the attention of all oncologists. And we also propose to evaluate the results of the next experiment.
“This has happened for the first time in the history of cancer treatment,” Luis Diaz Jr., a researcher at the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center, said.
According to the publication, the MSK specialists who conducted the study wanted to find out if immunotherapy itself could treat cancer. But they did not expect the results to be so unique – all 12 people who participated in the trial of the new drug went into remission without the usual, in such cases, chemotherapy and did not experience adverse reactions to the drug. The new drug was named dostarlimab.
According to the scientists, dostarlimab is a checkpoint inhibitor that “releases the brake on the immune cell, allowing it to recognize and attack cancer cells.”
All 12 experimental treatment patients were being treated for rectal cancer. Moreover, all cases were severe. Therefore, doctors were surprised by such a result! But this is a fact – MRI showed the complete absence of a cancerous tumor!
At the time of publication of the article in the journal (June 5 this year), no patient had received chemoradiotherapy or undergone surgery. And no relapses were reported during follow-up (range 6 to 25 months).
However, it is clear that a detailed study of the properties of the drug requires more time before doctors can fully understand the results. However, there is already a real chance in the fight against cancer!
