Rectal cancer: researchers hail ‘breakthrough’ experimental treatment

Researchers have hailed as a breakthrough the fact that every patient treated with an experimental immunotherapy drug went into remission.

The patients who were given dostarlimab had no trace of cancer after six months. There was no sign of the disease through physical examination, endoscopies, or other scans.

The researchers described the results as "breakthrough findings" and said they were amazed by the success rate. This is the first time in the history of cancer that this has happened, according to a leading member of the team.

The outcome was dramatic for the patients involved, as well as other patients with specific types of rectal cancer who come after them. They were able to avoid further surgery, treatment and radiation.

That could have far-reaching consequences.

The long-term effects of surgery and radiation on fertility, sexual health, bowel and bladder function, and the implications for quality of life are substantial, especially in those where standard treatment would impact reproductive potential. This approach can have a big impact on the incidence of rectal cancer in young adults.

Dostarlimab was developed by Glaxo. Patients were given the drug every three to six months.

The drug is used to fight drugs. Cancer cells block T-cells in the body's immune system from attacking them by putting a shield around them.

Cancer cells are vulnerable to being destroyed if the shield is not present.

Within one of the most promising areas of frontier experimental cancer research, the findings are related. The aim is to train the immune system to destroy cancer cells by helping it detect specific mutations in the genetic makeup of individual patients' own tumours.

The trial was designed to apply to a group of patients. The 14 patients had a rare abnormality in their tumours cells called a mismatch repair deficiency.

The higher levels of genetic errors in the cancer cells make them more visible to the immune system once the shield has been removed.

The scientists involved in the trial don't want to show the findings as a cure. The patients will be assessed to see how long they remain cancer free.

They are positive about the results. The new treatment would change the way people with rectal Cancer are treated.