A novel drug that makes a wide range of cancers more susceptible to the body's immune system has been described as "exciting" by doctors, potentially heralding a new era in cancer treatment. This drug works by removing the "camouflage" cancer cells use to evade immune system attacks. In a detailed study published in Nature, some patients with terminal bladder cancer experienced complete recovery.
Cancer Research UK has noted that the field of immunotherapy is yielding "a lot of very exciting results." The immune system's balance is crucial, with certain chemicals promoting a strong response while others suppress it. Tumors exploit this system to hide from immune detection, using a protein called PD-L1, which is typically involved in preventing autoimmune diseases.
An international team of scientists has been testing a drug developed by Roche to block PD-L1 in 68 patients with advanced bladder cancer, all of whom had previously undergone chemotherapy and were given six to eight months to live. Over half of the patients, whose tumors utilized PD-L1 to evade immune detection, showed signs of recovery, with two patients showing no signs of cancer post-treatment. Remarkably, one in ten patients responded to the therapy even without the presence of PD-L1 in their tumors.
Dr. Tom Powles, an oncologist at the Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London and part of the research team, highlighted the significance of this development, stating, "There have been no new drugs for bladder cancer for 30 years." He explained that by removing the tumor's camouflage, it becomes identifiable to the immune system, with a subgroup of patients showing exceptional improvement.
The drug has been granted "breakthrough therapy" status in the US, with the potential for widespread use by the end of 2015, pending the results of larger trials. Similar therapies have shown promise in improving survival rates in advanced skin cancer and other types of cancer, indicating a potential paradigm shift in cancer treatment. Prof. Peter Johnson, the chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, emphasized the importance of these findings, stating, "This study in bladder cancer is further proof of the power of this approach, and it's really good to find a new treatment for a type of cancer that we've been struggling to make progress with for many years."
