<
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jun/02/drug-pembrolizumab-melts-away-tumours-could-replace-surgery-for-bowel-cancer-say-doctors>
"A “gamechanger” immunotherapy drug that “melts away” tumours dramatically
increases the chances of curing some bowel cancers and may even replace the
need for surgery, doctors have said.
Pembrolizumab targets and blocks a specific protein on the surface of immune
cells that then seek out and destroy cancer cells.
Giving the drug before surgery instead of chemotherapy led to a huge increase
in patients being declared cancer-free, a clinical trial found. The results
were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical
Oncology (ASCO), the world’s largest cancer conference.
The study was led by University College London, University College London
hospital, the Christie NHS foundation trust in Manchester, St James’s
University hospital in Leeds, University hospital Southampton and the
University of Glasgow.
Prof Mark Saunders, a consultant clinical oncologist at the Christie, said the
trial results were “really very exciting”.
“Immunotherapy prior to surgery could well become a ‘gamechanger’ for these
patients with this type of cancer. Not only is the outcome better, but it saves
patients from having more conventional chemotherapy, which often has more
side-effects. In the future, immunotherapy may even replace the need for
surgery.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
