All twelve patients entered remission, at which point the malignancy was deemed undetectable. “This has never occurred before in the history of cancer,” stated one of the primary authors.
According to doctors, the cancer of every patient in a limited clinical study vanished after getting an experimental immunotherapy treatment.
In a clinical trial, patients with locally advanced rectal cancer received dostarlimab treatment for six months.
On the basis of endoscopy, physical tests, and scans, it was determined that the malignancy was no longer detectable in all twelve patients.
Dr. Luis Diaz, one of the study’s co-authors and an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told The New York Times, “This is the first time in the history of cancer that this has occurred.”
Despite the results, doctors emphasised that they are not declaring it a cure due to the need for additional research and analysis; however, the cancer has not reappeared in any of the patients since the trial concluded.
The medicine from the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline is used to treat endometrial cancer and was administered every three weeks to each patient in the New York-led experiment.
According to scientists, these types of medications are also used in other cancer treatments, such as melanoma, and do not directly target cancer cells, but rather assist the immune system to recognise and destroy them.
The New England Journal of Medicine has published the study.
Due to the scale of the study, additional research and a “longer follow-up” will be required to determine the longevity of the reaction. Scientists have stated that the research could provide “an early peek of a revolutionary therapeutic shift.”
