Clinical trial: A new medicine cures cancer in 100 percent of patients

• Doctors were able to treat rectal cancer in patients.
• Immunotherapy, which leverages the body’s own immune system as an ally in the fight against cancer, is used in the treatment.
• The first patient in the immunotherapy clinical trial, has completed six months of treatment.

Oncologists at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) discovered that patients’ most recent testing revealed no indication of cancer.

Thanks to an unusual medicine trial, doctors were able to treat rectal cancer in patients.

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Sascha Roth, the first patient in the immunotherapy clinical trial, has completed six months of treatment.

In every case, the rectal cancer eradicated after immunotherapy — without the need for typical therapies like radiation, surgery, or chemotherapy — and none of the patients’ cancers have reappeared in the two years since they were cancer-free.

Dr. Andrea Cercek, a medical oncologist working on the trial, said, “It’s incredibly rewarding to get these happy tears and happy emails from the patients in this study who finish treatment and realize, “Oh my God, I get to keep all my normal body functions that I feared I might lose to radiation or surgery.”

The patients in the study had tumors that were mismatch repair deficient (MMRd) or had microsatellite instability, which is a genetic mutation (MSI).

Rectal cancer is detected in 45,000 Americans each year. MMRd tumors are thought to be present in between 5% and 10% of all rectal cancer patients.

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‘Immunotherapy has been shown to be effective in treating a fraction of patients with colon and rectal cancer that has metastasized,’ said Dr. Luis Diaz, Jr., a co-investigator on the research.

The clinical research also aimed to reduce the toxicity frequently associated with rectal cancer treatment, as the traditional treatment for rectal cancer, which includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, can be particularly difficult for patients due to the tumor’s position.

‘They may experience life-altering bowel and bladder malfunction, incontinence, infertility, sexual dysfunction, and other issues,’ according to Dr. Diaz.

In the United Kingdom, bowel cancer is one of the most frequent cancers. The majority of those who are diagnosed with it are over 60 years old. However, the incidence of people under the age of 50 diagnosed with colorectal cancer, particularly rectal cancer, has increased alarmingly.

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