Disease: Rectal Cancer w/ specific mutation

Status:  CURED(with caveats)  For a subset of rectal cancer patients with a specific mutation, there is a very high chance of 100% remission.

 Original Article: https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/cancer-trial-amazingly-results-in-100-remission-in-every-patient

Sources of claim:   Verified legitimate

                    Memorial Sloan-Kettering:  https://www.mskcc.org/news/rectal-cancer-disappears-after-experimental-use-immunotherapy

                    New England Journal of Medicine: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201445                                         

Quotes:  

"The MSK clinical trial was investigating — for the first time ever — if immunotherapy alone could beat rectal cancer that had not spread to other tissues, in a subset of patients whose tumor contain a specific genetic mutation."

"These same remarkable results would be repeated for all 14 people — and counting — in the MSK clinical trial for rectal cancer with a particular mutation. While it’s a small trial so far, the results are so impressive they were published in The New England Journal of Medicine."

(From the journal, heavy on the medical terminology!)  "A total of 12 patients have completed treatment with dostarlimab and have undergone at least 6 months of follow-up. All 12 patients (100%; 95% confidence interval, 74 to 100) had a clinical complete response, with no evidence of tumor on magnetic resonance imaging, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose–positron-emission tomography, endoscopic evaluation, digital rectal examination, or biopsy. At the time of this report, no patients had received chemoradiotherapy or undergone surgery, and no cases of progression or recurrence had been reported during follow-up (range, 6 to 25 months). No adverse events of grade 3 or higher have been reported."

My opinion:  Immunotherapy is a fascinating area of cancer research and I read quite a few articles about it's use in cancer treatment every day or so.  Radiation is such a destructive process, any targeted form of treatment that dispenses with radiation is a positive development.  We can only hope articles with this type of success continue.

-Steve

Note: This blog does not provide medical advice and only seeks to catalog claims of potential cures / treatments that litter daily news sites.  For medical advice, please contact your primary care physician or other licensed medical doctor.