Treatment with the immunotherapy drug dostarlimab has been shown to completely regress the tumor in a small sample of patients with a particular form of bowel cancer.
The trial was carried out at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
It was published in the New England Journal of Clinical Oncology and presented in recent days at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The study involved 16 patients with locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the rectum characterized by a particular anomaly in the DNA repair mechanisms, a form that affects 5-10% of tumors affecting the rectum and "responds poorly to standard chemotherapy regimens" , the researchers explain.
"Treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer consists of the administration of chemotherapy and neoadjuvant radiotherapy followed by resection of the rectum," the team adds.
An approach that has a good chance of success, but is associated with important complications: intestinal, urinary, sexual and infertility dysfunctions with a serious deterioration in the quality of life of patients.
In the case of the trial, administration of the drug dostarlimab every three weeks for six months allowed complete tumor remission without requiring chemo and radiotherapy or surgery in all 12 patients who completed the course of treatment.
All patients are fine and no recurrence of the tumor was observed at the end of the study.
