Cancer caused me to lose my mother last year. Her last weeks on earth were very traumatic to me and the family as it saw the mother slowly weaken due to the growing cancer. A variety of these new treatments are being tested to combat this pretty dangerous disease. A new treatment performed in the United States has successfully removed cancerous tumors in the body without surgery or radiotherapy.
A total of 12 colon cancer patients from New York Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center underwent immunotherapy treatment using the drug dostarlimab. After six months of immunotherapy treatment, tumors in all patients were successfully removed which was unprecedented in any previous cancer clinical trial.
Patients were selected to undergo treatment trials because they had a genetic mutation called mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd) that caused them not to respond positively to radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment. This is only detected in 5-10% of colon cancer patients.
MMRd also makes cancer cells more susceptible to immunotherapy treatment. The body's immune system is strengthened to attack cancer cells. Dostarlimab is given every 3 weeks for 6 months. After six months no tumor was detected using MRI scan, PET scan, endoscopy, biopsy and many more. Remove the tumor from the body completely.
The third stage clinical trial will be performed with 30 patients. Last month clinical trials on human cancer treatment using the virus were initiated by Imugene Limited after showing a positive reaction in laboratory animals. It is still too early to say whether this treatment can be used on other types of cancer but it gives hope that we are getting closer to finding a cure.