Between 10% and 15% of people with colon cancer have tumors with an MMR deficient/MSI-High genetic profile New research suggests a big benefit to these patients from using an immunotherapy drug prior to tumor-removing surgery More study is needed to see how long the benefit lasts MONDAY, June 3, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- There's potential good news for a sizable minority of people battling advanced colon cancer. Doctors in Britain say that an immunotherapy drug, given before surgery, can help many more patients with a specific genetic profile stay cancer-free long term. The finding pertains to people with stage 2 or 3 colon tumors with a genetic profile known as MMR deficient/MSI-High.
About 10% to 15% of colon cancers have this profile, said a team led by Dr Kai-Keen Shiu , of the University College London (UCL) Cancer Institute. Giving patients with advanced MMR deficient/MSI-High colon cancers the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) before their surgery kept up to 10 times as many of them cancer-free, compared to if they had not received the drug, the trial found. “We need to wait to see whether the patients in our trial remain cancer-free over a longer period of time, but initial indications are extremely positive," Shiu said in a university news release.
He is a medical oncologist at University College London Health. The findings were presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. The research was funded by Merck .
