Six months following dostarlimab treatment in 12 patients, none of the tumors were found on MRI; pictured in context, people not relevant to this article. (Picture taken from freepik)
[Health Channel/Comprehensive Report]New hope for rectal cancer patients! A new study shows that 12 patients with rectal cancer received a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor drug “dostarlimab” (ie, a monoclonal antibody) for 6 months, and their tumors disappeared without signs of recurrence. Domestic physicians said that it is very rare that a single anti-cancer drug can completely cure patients with stage 2 or stage 3, which is exciting news.
The research team in the United States conducted the study and administered dostarlimab once every 3 weeks to 12 patients with stage 2-3 rectal cancer with defective DNA mismatch repair function (dMMR) for 6 months. After receiving drug treatment, no additional chemotherapy or surgery is required, and the tumor cannot be detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron scan, and endoscopy.
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The patients were also followed for at least 6 months, and the cancer did not return during the 6-25 month follow-up period. The side effects of this drug are also mild, and there are no serious adverse events of grade 3 or above. The most common side effects are rash, fatigue, and nausea, but one patient developed thyroid dysfunction.
Both surgery and chemotherapy can have permanent effects on fertility, sexual health, bowel function, bladder function, and severely impact quality of life, the study authors said. Such drugs may be particularly beneficial for patients who are still planning to have children.
Domestic doctors said that PD-1 was originally a late-line drug. If it was used for stage 2-3 cancer patients, the original purpose should be to reduce the size of the tumor so that they might accept surgery. But I didn’t expect that the effect on these 12 people would be so good. The tumor might no longer be found through MRI and positron scan, and there would be no need for surgery and chemotherapy in the future.
He pointed out that despite the small scale of the drug trial and the single patient condition, all patients were dMMR rectal cancer, not necessarily applicable to all rectal cancer patients, but dMMR rectal cancer will still benefit from this drug.
The incidence of colorectal cancer in Taiwan remains high, and the emergence of new and effective drugs is exciting news for Taiwanese patients. According to foreign data, dMMR rectal cancer patients account for regarding 5-10%, and the current experiment is also aimed at this group, and it may be that dMMR rectal cancer patients will benefit the most in the future.
In the future, more studies are still needed to prove the effectiveness and safety of dostarlimab. The research team also believes that this study is small in scale and all in the same institution. Future experiments should also involve more people of different races.
The research was published in the international journal “new england journal of medicineNEJM）。
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