Scientists have announced that some types of cancer patients have been completely cured without the need for chemotherapy by using immunotherapy and targeted treatment methods.
According to Milli.Az, the basis of this treatment is to direct the body's own immune system to fight against cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapy, this method does not destroy both healthy and diseased cells, it only targets "foreign" cells.
Cancer cells sometimes "hide" from the immune system. New generation drugs remove the mask of these hidden cells and enable the immune system (T-cells) to destroy them.
In trials especially conducted on rectal (large intestine) cancer, it was observed that in 100% of the participating patients, the cancer tumor completely disappeared. These patients neither underwent surgery nor received chemotherapy.
Examinations after treatment (MRI, PET-CT) showed no trace of cancer.
Chemotherapy causes severe side effects such as hair loss, intense nausea, and complete collapse of the immune system. In the new method, side effects are minimal, and patients can continue their daily lives normally during the treatment period.
So far, this success has been recorded in certain genetically characterized types of cancer (for example, "mismatch repair-deficient" cancer). The scientists' next goal is to apply this method to other aggressive types of cancer (lung, breast, etc.).
