A new immunotherapy drug used in a prostate cancer clinical trial is showing early promise in the possible treatment of the disease.
Known as VIR-5500, the drug is a “masked T-cell engager,” an immunotherapy designed to activate the body’s immune system to fight cancer, Science Alert reports. Early trial results showed that 82% of patients receiving the highest doses experienced drops in PSA levels, a key marker used to track prostate cancer.
”We believe that such treatments may in the long term lead to cures,” said lead
researcher professor Johann de Bono of the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.In the ongoing, not yet peer-reviewed trial, patients with advanced prostate cancer who had not responded to other treatments were given VIR-5500. Nearly half showed tumor shrinkage, both at primary sites and in metastatic tumors that had spread beyond the prostate.
Cancer cells can evade the immune system, but immunotherapies work by strengthening the body’s ability to fight them. While these treatments have shown major success, cancers like prostate cancer remain difficult to treat, highlighting the need for better options. T-cell engagers are one approach that links immune cells directly to cancer cells to help destroy them.
The findings offer hope for treating other cancers as well. If further research confirms that masked T-cell engagers are safer and more effective, they could be combined with standard treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation to achieve stronger results. Similar therapies are already showing early promise in prostate cancer, with trials underway for pancreatic, colorectal, and lung cancers.
“We do need more data, but the results are stunning,” de Bono said.
Because these trials are still ongoing and involve small patient groups, it’s too early to determine full clinical success, and the data have not yet been peer-reviewed. Still, the early findings offer promising hope for treating cancers that have been difficult to target with existing immunotherapies.
”With over 12,000 men dying from prostate cancer each year in the UK, we urgently need new and innovative ways to treat the disease,” said Simon Grieveson, assistant director of research at Prostate Cancer
UK. “These early results are extremely promising, with a number of men in the study responding positively to the treatment with minimal side effects. I look forward to seeing this now tested in larger trials, with the hope that this treatment will offer men more valuable time with their loved ones.”RELATED CONTENT: Brother, Please Protect Your Prostate