A recent clinical trial conducted by Memorial Sloan Kettering has produced “unprecedented” results in the world of cancer treatment that provide great hope for those suffering from rectal cancer. Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosis in the United States.
The standard treatment protocol for this type of cancer is surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. While these treatments are never easy for any type of cancer, they prove to be especially difficult when it comes to rectal cancer due to where the tumor is located. Going through these standard treatments can lead to bowel and bladder dysfunction, incontinence, fertility issues, sexual issues, and more.
Since those are things that no one wants to face, it is especially exciting that the results from this study have come out, showing some promise that those standard treatment options may never be needed.
The Star of the Show: Dostarlimab
The future of rectal cancer is changing at this very moment thanks to an immunotherapy drug called dostarlimab. It was previously used in the treatment of endometrial cancer, but was recently used by a research team to see whether it could make some waves in the field of rectal cancer.
For the first time in the history of cancer, every patient in the cancer trial is in remission. The study gave 18 rectal cancer patients dostarlimab every three weeks over a period of six months. And every single patient ended up free of cancer. That’s including the first patient who participated in this trial two years ago.
The plan was originally to take the dostarlimab for six months and then follow it up with chemoradiotherapy and surgery. However, the patients who took the drug did not have to move on to the second phase of the plan and instead were able to bypass chemoradiotherapy and surgery. MRI scans following the completion of the pill regimen showed no evidence of a tumor, which means that there were no cases of the cancer coming back.
How Does Dostarlimab Work?
Dostarlimab is a monoclonal antibody that essentially brings cancer cells out from hiding, which allows the immune system to search and destroy. It does this by attaching to a protein called PD-1 on the surface of cancer cells. Once it has attached, the immune system can recognize the cells as cancerous, and attack them.
Patients in the trial have experienced some mild to moderate side effects including itchiness, fatigue, nausea, and rash, but they have been cancer-free for up to two years.
The results from this trial are a step in the right direction, but there is still some work to do. The trial is currently ongoing for other patients who started the dostarlimab treatment later, so we will have a fuller picture of the results once all 30 patients have completed the trial. Then, there will need to be large-scale replication of the results to ensure that dostarlimab is truly effective against rectal cancer.
Scientists are hopeful that this approach to cancer treatment may also be able to help patients with other mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) tumors including stomach, prostate, and pancreatic cancer. The discovery made in this trial is nothing short of revolutionary and may be the catalyst that shifts the way in which cancer is treated.
The way that things have been done is not always the way they should currently be done, and that has proven to be the case with this cancer breakthrough. In his book LIFE FORCE, Tony Robbins shares tools and resources that can help you look at health and wellness through a new lens – one that brings results you never dreamed you could experience.
