A drug that can “melt” tumors could replace surgery for colon cancer
A drug has been discovered that can “melt” tumors and significantly increase the chances of cure colon cancer, to such an extent that it can even replace surgery. The researchers who developed this less invasive procedure remain at several universities and public hospitals in the United Kingdom.
Promising results from this revolutionary treatment have already been presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Pembrolizumab is the name of a drug that claims to “change the rules of the game” in patients with this type of cancer, as reported by the British newspaper The Guardian.
This immunotherapy drug targets a specific protein on the surface of immune cells that it blocks, and then they look for and destroy cancer cells.
All patients were cured
For clinical trials of this drug 32 patients with colon cancer stage two or three and specific genetic profile (MMR-deficient/MSI-high colon cancer) in five UK hospitals.
All were monitored for nine weeks. During this time, instead of receiving conventional chemotherapy treatment Before surgery, patients took pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda.
The results were promising. At the end of treatment, 59% of patients taking pembrolizumab had no signs of cancer, and the remaining 41% had their cancer removed during surgery. In both cases, all patients in this study (i.e. 100%) They were cancer-free after this treatment..
Compared to standard chemotherapy given to patients with the same genetic profile, the difference is terrible. However, only less than 5% had no signs of cancer after surgery, according to University College London, one of the centers that conducted the study.
“It could even replace surgery.”
According to Professor Mark Saunders, consultant clinical oncologist at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, the results of this study “really very interesting”. The specialist emphasizes that this treatment of patients with colon cancer before surgery not only improves the outcome, but also “prevents patients from receiving more traditional chemotherapy, which often has more side effects.” In addition, he believes that “in the future, immunotherapy may even replace the need for surgery.”
For his part, Dr Kai-Kin Shiu, the study’s principal investigator and consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospital (UCLH), praised the drug as “a safe and highly effective treatment that improves outcomes for patients with breast cancer.” “high-risk colon, which increases the chances of curing the disease at an early stageAlthough longer follow-up is needed to assess disease-free survival, early signs are “extremely positive,” he says. According to Shiu, “immunotherapy can make tumors disappear before surgery.” “If the cancer is melted before surgery, the chances of survival usually triple,” he concludes.
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