Immunotherapy 'highly effective' treatment for high-risk bowel cancer, study finds

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

Immunotherapy before surgery has kept all patients with a high-risk genetic form of bowel cancer free of the disease for almost three years in a UK trial.

The findings offer hope that immunotherapy could replace months of chemotherapy for thousands of patients diagnosed with this form of the disease each year, according to researchers from University College London Hospital.

The team treated patients with stage two or three bowel cancer who had a genetic profile called MMR deficient or MSI-high, seen in about 10% to 15% of patients with these cancer stages. This accounts for around 2,000-3,000 cases per year in the UK.

For this trial, 32 patients were recruited from five UK hospitals. Rather than the standard treatment of surgery followed by three to six months of chemotherapy, the patients received up to nine weeks of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab before their operation.

Previous results showed 59% of patients had no signs of cancer remaining after their operation.