Rectal cancer treatment drug trial

• A small cancer drug trial found a 100% success rate in 14 patients. • The drug, Dostralimab, could point to a new promising option for rectal cancer treatment. • Although the study is small, these results are groundbreaking in the world of oncology. A small trial for an immunotherapy drug is having a huge impact in the world of cancer. After six months of an experimental treatment, dostarlimab, tumors disappeared by the time the study was published in all 14 patients diagnosed with early-stage rectal cancer. Researchers in the field of colorectal cancer are praising the small trial’s remarkable results, which were published last Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Scientists say that the groundbreaking development could lead to new treatments for other cancers as well. The patients received dostarlimab, an anti-PD-1- monoclonal antibody treatment administered intravenously every three weeks for six months—a total of nine cycles. Dostarlimab is a relatively new drug made to block a specific cancer cell protein that, when expressed, can cause the immune system to hold back its cancer-fighting response. The participants in the study all had stage 2 or 3 rectal adenocarcinoma (meaning the cancer had reached the lymph nodes but hadn’t metastasized) with a specific mutation that’s particularly sensitive to chemotherapy. The patients all shared the same subset of rectal cancer, caused by a defic...

Displaying 133 studies • Jacksonville, FL; Rochester, MN The purpose of this study is to comparethe robotic approach and conventional laparoscopic approach for rectal cancer surgery to evaluatefunctional results in terms of bowel, urinary and sexual function. • Eau Claire, WI The standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer involves chemotherapy and radiation, known as 5FUCMT, (the chemotherapy drugs 5-fluorouracil/capecitabine and radiation therapy) prior to surgery. Although radiation therapy to the pelvis has been a standard and important part of treatment for rectal cancer and has been shown to decrease the risk of the cancer coming back in the same area in the pelvis, some patients experience undesirable side effects from the radiation and there have been important advances in chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation which may be of benefit. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects, both good ... • Mankato, MN The standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer involves chemotherapy and radiation, known as 5FUCMT, (the chemotherapy drugs 5-fluorouracil/capecitabine and radiation therapy) prior to surgery. Although radiation therapy to the pelvis has been a standard and important part of treatment for rectal cancer and has been shown to decrease the risk of the cancer coming back in the same area in the pelvis, some patients experience undesirable side effects from the radiation and there have been important advances in chemotherapy, surgery, and ...

Scientists are hailing the results of a small clinical trial as groundbreaking after a single immunotherapy drug caused every participant's rectal cancer — typically treated with chemotherapy, radiation and surgery — to disappear after six months. Participants all had stage 2 or 3 rectal adenocarcinoma (meaning the cancer had reached the lymph nodes but hadn't metastasized) with a specific mutation that's particularly sensitive to immunotherapy. They received the The rectal cancer tumors vanished for all 14 patients who completed treatment — a full clinical remission. The findings were published in the Despite the tiny sample size, the results are promising. “That’s 100% of patients. We never, ever say that about cancer treatments,” NBC News medical contributor Dr. Natalie Azar For comparison, researchers found the most common side effects of dostarlimab were rash, itching, fatigue and nausea. “It doesn’t sound fun, but certainly manageable and not life-threatening," Azar said. Dostarlimab, made by How does immunotherapy for cancer work? Immunotherapy works differently from traditional cancer treatments. “It’s basically harnessing the power of your own immune system to kill cancer cells,” Azar said, unlike chemotherapy, which kills cancer cells but also "a lot of good things." Dostarlimab is a type of drug called a MSK researchers are calling this new approach “immunoablative” therapy, which means immunotherapy is replacing the surgery, chemotherapy and radiation that woul...

Some members of the MSK team behind the groundbreaking research at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, June 2022 (l to r): Dr. Luis Diaz, Dr. Andrea Cercek, Jenna Sinopoli, clinical trials nurse, Jill Weiss, clinical research supervisor, Melissa Lumish, clinical fellow. Breakthrough findings were presented at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting and published in The New England Journal of Medicine today by researchers at MSK’s Study Details and Findings “Since MMRd colorectal cancer is responsive to PD-1 blockade MSK researchers conducted a prospective study in which single agent dostarlimab, an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, was administered every three weeks for six months in patients with mismatch repair-deficient stage2 and 3 rectal adenocarcinoma, to be followed by standard chemoradiation and surgery. Patients who achieved a clinical complete response were eligible for omission of chemoradiation and surgery. All 14 who initiated treatment on the trial and have had at least six months of follow-up achieved a clinical complete response with no evidence of tumor on MRI, FDG-PET, endoscopic visualization, digital rectal exam, or biopsy, which satisfied the study’s co-primary endpoint. To date, no patients have required chemoradiation or surgery, and no cases of progression or recurrence have been noted during follow-up (up to 25 months). No serious adverse events were observed. As researchers found the elimination of tumors following six months of therapy with PD-1 blockad...

Each year, over 40,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Affecting 1 in 15 men and 1 in 18 women during their lifetimes, according to the charity Bowel Cancer UK, it’s the fourth most common form of cancer in Britain – and the second biggest killer. But a drugs trial carried out in the US may offer new hope in treating the disease. Colorectal cancers can take many forms, but around 5 to 10 per cent of them can be characterised as ‘mismatch repair-deficient’ (MMrD). This means there have been mutations in genes that are involved in ensuring the successful duplication of other genes, with the result that MMrD cells tend to feature many genetic mutations, which can lead to cancer. What’s more, if cancer does arise, MMrD tumours tend to be less responsive to chemotherapy and radiation treatments than other forms – leaving invasive surgery as the only option for patients afflicted by this type of tumour. In recent years, however, there has been some significant progress in the use of immunotherapy drugs to treat various types of MMrD tumour in different parts of the body. The specific drugs involved are called PD-1 blockers, and work by inhibiting the activity of protein called PD-1 that is found on the surface of the body’s T-cells – the white blood cells that are responsible for fighting antigens. Normally, PD-1 and another protein called PD-L1 prevent T-cells from attacking cancer cells, but restricting PD-1 cells’ activity leaves the T-cells free to fig...