Key TakeawaysDostarlimab showed promise as a rectal cancer treatment in a very small clinical trial.The drug is in a class of medications that is used to treat others forms of cancer.Doctors say that dostarlimab can likely be used to treat other forms of cancer in the future.
Key Takeaways
Dostarlimab showed promise as a rectal cancer treatment in a very small clinical trial.The drug is in a class of medications that is used to treat others forms of cancer.Doctors say that dostarlimab can likely be used to treat other forms of cancer in the future.
Dostarlimabmade headlinesearlier this month after news broke that every patient with a certain type of rectal cancer was put into remission after using the cancer drug in a clinical trial.
The trial was small—it involved just 18 people and only 12 completed the treatment—but the results were exciting. The researchers found that, after taking dostarlimab every three weeks for six months, all patients withmismatch repair-deficientstage II or III rectal adenocarcinoma had “no evidence of tumor” on MRI or other tests.
“At the time of this report, no patients had received chemoradiotherapy or undergone surgery, and no cases of progression or recurrence had been reported during follow-up,” which was between six to 25 months, the researchers wrote.
An Overview of Rectal Cancer
So, what else can dostarlimab treat and how does this drug work? Here’s what you need to know.
What Is Dostarlimab?
Dostarlimab is a type of immunotherapy in a class of drugs known as PD-1 inhibitors, Jamie Alan, PharmD, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, told Verywell.
“This blocks the PD-1–programmed death receptor-1—which is involved in the immune response,” she said. “It is the immune system’s job to destroy foreign material and cells, including cancer cells.”
Cancerous tumors can express this PD-1 receptor, which “hides” the tumor from the immune system. According to Alan, dostarlimab will block this receptor, allowing the immune system to recognize, attack, and destroy the tumor.
Dostarlimab is administered via intravenous (IV) infusion, and there are similar drugs out there.
“The drug is in the same category as Opdivo (nivolumab) or Keytruda, (pembrolizumab),”Namrata Vijayvergia, MD, assistant chief of gastrointestinal medical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, told Verywell.
What Else Can Dostarlimab Treat?
Currently, dostarlimab is only FDA-approved to treat mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer and dMMR solid tumors. But it’s also part of20 other clinical trials, including several for breast cancer. That volume is not shocking,Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, professor of genitourinary medical oncology and immunology, and scientific director of the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson Cancer Center, told Verywell.
“Because it’s an immunotherapy drug, it’s not specific for tumor types,” she said. This means the drug could technically be used to treat a range of cancers. However, GSK, the maker of dostarlimab, has only completed clinical trials on patients with endometrial cancer and sought FDA approval for that specific indication.
Immunotherapy for Cancer
Sharma points out that there are several different medications in this class and that they all block the same biologic pathway.
“It’s just that different companies have done their clinical trials on different [forms of cancer],” she said.
Ibrahim Halil Sahin, MD, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center, told Verywell that the clinical trial that showed impressive results for dostarlimab was only for a very specific type of rectal cancer, and that’s been confusing for his patients. However, it doesn’t mean it won’t be effective in other forms of cancer—it just hasn’t been tested yet.
“Studies are looking into the benefits of dostarlimab and other PD-1 inhibitors in different patient populations,” he said. “Could it turn out to be an effective anti-cancer drug? Maybe.”
Sahin also stressed that dostarlimab is “not any different from other PD-1 inhibitors.” He says it’s very likely that other drugs in this same class will have similar successful results.
“The future of immunotherapy in cancer care is bright,” Vijayvergia said. “We need to find ways to make immunotherapy effective in more types of tumors rather than just MMR deficient and these studies are trying to study these exact same questions.”
What This Means For YouThe immunotherapy drug dostarlimab showed impressive results in a small clinical trial, but the trial was small and the type of cancer was very specific. More research is needed to see if the results can be replicated in other forms of cancer and with a larger patient population.
What This Means For You
The immunotherapy drug dostarlimab showed impressive results in a small clinical trial, but the trial was small and the type of cancer was very specific. More research is needed to see if the results can be replicated in other forms of cancer and with a larger patient population.
2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Cercek A, Lumish M, Sinopoli J, et al.PD-1 blockade in mismatch repair–deficient, locally advanced rectal cancer.N Engl J Med. 2022;386(25):2363-2376. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2201445National Library of Medicine. DailyMed.JEMPERLI- dostarlimab injection[drug label].
2 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Cercek A, Lumish M, Sinopoli J, et al.PD-1 blockade in mismatch repair–deficient, locally advanced rectal cancer.N Engl J Med. 2022;386(25):2363-2376. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2201445National Library of Medicine. DailyMed.JEMPERLI- dostarlimab injection[drug label].
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Cercek A, Lumish M, Sinopoli J, et al.PD-1 blockade in mismatch repair–deficient, locally advanced rectal cancer.N Engl J Med. 2022;386(25):2363-2376. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2201445National Library of Medicine. DailyMed.JEMPERLI- dostarlimab injection[drug label].
Cercek A, Lumish M, Sinopoli J, et al.PD-1 blockade in mismatch repair–deficient, locally advanced rectal cancer.N Engl J Med. 2022;386(25):2363-2376. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2201445
National Library of Medicine. DailyMed.JEMPERLI- dostarlimab injection[drug label].
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