Generally, the standard treatment for solid tumors is surgery. However, a recent study from New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center found immunotherapy can effectively treat these tumors and eliminate the need for surgery in some patients.
The study, published April 27 in The New England Journal of Medicine, treated 117 patients with stage 1, 2 or 3 mismatch repair–deficient cancers. Patients were treated for six months with dostarlimab, an immunotherapy drug.
Patients’ tumors with a mismatch repair mutation gene have a protein that shields the tumor from immune system attacks. Immunotherapy pierces that shield and allows the immune system to destroy cancer cells.
Here’s what to know:
1. Among treated patients, 92% were recurrence-free at two years, and 82 did not undergo surgery. This included 35 to 54 patients who had tumors in their stomach, esophagus, liver, endometrium, urinary tract and prostate.
2. Cancers only recurred in five patients: three had additional doses of immunotherapy, and one had their lymph nodes removed. The fifth patient had additional immunotherapy to make their tumor shrink.
3. Immunotherapy is not designed to replace standard treatment, which in most cases is surgery. In order to make immunotherapy part of standard treatment, it will need to be included in clinical guidelines, The New York Times reported. However there could be difficulties with insurance coverage. The drug costs about $11,000 per dose and patients need nine infusions over six months. Currently, immunotherapy is approved for uterine cancers with mismatch repair mutations and is included in clinical guidelines for treating rectal cancers.
