In a medical trial, 12 patients in the United States were completely cured of rectal cancer without requiring any surgery or chemotherapy.
Key highlights
- According to the New York Times, 18 patients took a monoclonal antibody medicine named Dostarlimab for six months in a limited clinical trial done by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and all of them saw their tumours shrink at the end.
- The trial showed that immunotherapy alone – without any chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery that have been staples of cancer treatment – could completely cure the patients with a particular kind of rectal cancer called ‘mismatch repair deficient’ cancer”.
- ‘Mismatch repair deficient’ cancer is most common among colorectal, gastrointestinal, and endometrial cancers.
- Patients suffering from this condition lack the genes to correct typos in the DNA that occur naturally while cells make copies.
- The anomalies in the DNA result in cancerous growths in patients with mismatch repair deficient cancers.
- The immunotherapy belongs to a category called PD1 blockades that are now recommended for the treatment of such cancers rather than chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
- PD1 is a type of protein that regulates certain functions of the immune system, including by suppressing T cell activity, and PD1 blockade therapy looks to release the T cells from this suppression.
- According to New York Times, the medicine costs nearly $11,000 or ₹ 8.55 lakh per dose.
What ‘Mismatch repair deficient’?
- Describes cells that have mutations (changes) in certain genes that are involved in correcting mistakes made when DNA is copied in a cell.
- Mismatch repair (MMR) deficient cells usually have many DNA mutations, which may lead to cancer.
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