A groundbreaking trial has discovered that two drugs typically used to strengthen immune systems can also help in the fight against bowel cancer when combined.
Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University found that mixing botensilimab and balstilimab could help tackle the most common type of bowel cancer.
Their trial brings “new hope” for those battling the disease, as 61 percent of patients had their tumours shrunk by the new combination of drugs.
The specific type of bowel cancer, microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer (MSS mCRC), is notoriously resistant to other immunotherapies – utilising the immune system to fight cancer.
The authors of the study have called the treatment “potentially game-changing” and are now waiting for UK regulators to approve it following a successful US trial.
The 101-participant trial saw tumours reduce or stabilise in 61 percent of MSS mCRC patients, with common side effects of diarrhoea and fatigue.
This is a major step forward for cancer research as, until now, immunotherapy was mainly effective for rarer types of bowel cancer – a disease which affects nearly 43,000 people every year in the UK.
Professor Justin Stebbing a biomedical sciences expert at Anglia Ruskin University, said: “These results are incredibly exciting.
“Colorectal or bowel cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer worldwide and this is the first time there has been convincing evidence that immunotherapy can work in all forms of colorectal tumours, so this is potentially game-changing.
“This is now progressing into later phase clinical trials and we hope the FDA in the United States approve its use very soon. And because this is such an important area, affecting so many people, we hope authorities in the UK are also able to move quickly.”
Lisa Wilde, director of research, policy, and influencing at Bowel Cancer UK, noted that the trial was still in its infancy but acknowledged that it shows “exciting promise”.
She said: “This trial is still at a very early stage but does show exciting promise to extend much-needed treatment options for those whose cancer would previously have been resistant to immunotherapy. We will continue to follow with interest.”