In a recent trial, a study conducted at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) showed that the drug treats all rectal cancer patients with minimal side effects. “I think this is a first in cancer history,” said Luis Diaz, PhD, MSKCC, and author of a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A drug called dostarimab was given to 14 people with certain types of rectal cancer every 3 weeks for 6 months. MSKCC researchers said in a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology on Sunday, June 5, that following a course of treatment, the cancer might not be tracked in everyone’s physical examination, endoscopy, PET and MRI scans. .
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What is dostarimab?
The drug dostarimab helps the immune system identify and destroy cancer cells. The drug, branded Jemperli, is already being used in patients with endometrial cancer. According to WebMD, monoclonal antibodies like dostarlimab are lab-made antibodies designed to fight certain diseases. Various monoclonal antibodies appeared to treat COVID-19, gaining popularity over the past two years. This drug is specifically designed to block a specific protein associated with cancer cells called PD-1. In the Memorial Sloan Kettering trial in rectal cancer, all patients’ tumors were also characterized by mismatch repair deficiency, in which cells had mutations that prevented them from correcting mistakes when DNA was copied.
Participants in the dostarimab trial did not require any other form of treatment for up to 1 year and had no major adverse events affecting their daily activities. Sascha Roth, one of the first patients and one of the patients in a clinical trial involving immunotherapy, said, “I was so excited when Dr. Dercecek heard that the latest tests showed no evidence of cancer.”
Dr Andrea Cercek, an oncologist at MSKCC and co-author of the study, said the trial participants shed many happy tears when they found out that no further treatment was needed. Cercek also noted in her press release that the implications of standard cancer treatment for people’s quality of life are significant, especially for those where standard care affects fertility.
As Stat reports, the approach in this study builds on Diaz’s previous work, pioneering the development of Keytruda to treat patients with inconsistency repair deficiency. In May 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Keytruda for the treatment of patients whose tumors have spread beyond their original location.
It is unclear whether the drug is safe enough
Hanna K Sanoff, an oncologist at the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, wrote in an editorial in the New England Journal that this is a convincing study. But she warns that the results are an incomplete surrogate for long-term cancer control. “In 20 to 30 percent of these patients, cancer regrowth occurs when the cancer is managed non-surgically,” she said. It is unclear whether it is safe to launch a drug on a large scale. The study was also too small to show a rarer aspect,” she said. effect.”
“These results give rise to great optimism, but such an approach cannot yet replace our current treatment approach,” she added.
