Larger-scale trials are still needed to see if it will work for more patients. (Representative)
A small group of people with rectal cancer just experienced something of a miracle as their cancer simply vanished after an experimental treatment. According to New York Times, in a very small clinical trial, 18 patients took a drug called Dostarlimab for around six months, and in the end, every one of them saw their tumours disappear.
Dostarlimab is a drug with laboratory-produced molecules that act as substitute antibodies in the human body. All 18 rectal cancer patients were given the same drug and as a result of the treatment, cancer was completely obliterated in every patient - undetectable by physical exam; endoscopy; positron emission tomography or PET scans or MRI scans.
Dr Luis A. Diaz J. of New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center said this was “the first time this has happened in the history of cancer”.
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As per New York Times, the patients involved in the clinical trial faced gruelling previous treatments to obliterate their cancer, such as chemotherapy, radiation and invasive surgery that could result in bowel, urinary and even sexual dysfunction. The 18 patients went into the trial expecting to have to go through these as the next step. However, to their surprise, no further treatment was needed.
The findings are now making waves in the medical world. Speaking to the media outlet, Dr Alan P. Venook, who is a colorectal cancer specialist at the University of California, said that the complete remission in every single patient is “unheard-of”. He hailed the research as a world-first. He even noted that it was especially impressive as not all of the patients suffered significant complications from the trial drug.
Separately, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a co-author of the paper, oncologist Dr Andrea Cercek, described the moment patients found out they were cancer-free. “There were a lot of happy tears,” she told the New York Times.
For the trial, patients took Dostarlimab every three weeks for six months. They were all in similar stages of their cancer - it was locally advanced in the rectum but had not spread to other organs.
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Now, the cancer researchers who reviewed the drug told the media outlet that the treatment looks promising, but a larger-scale trial is needed to see if it will work for more patients and if the cancers are truly in remission.
idgafaboutpopsicles on June 7th, 2022 at 14:39 UTC »
Cancer researcher here. This cohort of patients was selected because their tumors had malfunctioning DNA-damage repair pathways, meaning these tumors each had a massive number of mutations. The therapy used in the trial is a PD-1 inhibitor, which blocks an interaction that prevents immune responses, so effectively you are supercharging your immune system. Targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction is not a novel concept in cancer therapy. The human immune system is incredible, and can recognize mutant proteins as foreign material and target those cells for destruction. It has been well established that a high mutational burden correlates with better responses to immune therapies. Basically more mutations means there's a better chance one can be recognized by an immune cell and destroyed. The biology is obviously a bit more complex than that, and it's rare to see a complete response in every patient, but this trial was done specifically in the cohort of patients you would expect to respond. And other immune checkpoint inhibitors have already demonstrated amazing clinical responses in similar cohorts of patients. So with such a small sample size and no control group, it's hard to draw too many conclusions. This is certainly promising, especially for the small percentage of patients whose tumors have malfunctioning DNA-repair pathways, and I look forward to seeing how it progresses in future trials. But for now I'm a little skeptical the extent to which this improves outcomes compared to pre-existing therapies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction.
UberGoobler on June 7th, 2022 at 12:54 UTC »
Someone very close to me has been diagnosed with grade 3 brain cancer. I really hope that something like this makes it to them before its past the point of no return. Seeing these advancements brings me hope that one day people wont have to go through what my family and I are going through right now.
Standard_Gauge on June 7th, 2022 at 12:07 UTC »
My brother died of rectal cancer 14 years ago. He had every treatment known, and participated in several experimental trials as well, feeling it would give his life meaning if he could be part of the research that might find a cure and save others like him. He would have been deeply grateful to learn of this advance. I hope all these patients remain in full remission and enjoy good health.