It has emerged that an American cancer patient from Virginia, who was riddled with 26 tumors of the deadly disease cancer, has been effectively cured through a radical new treatment recommended by his doctor.
In 2011, Mike Chettle was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Despite undergoing complex surgery and drug treatment, the disease continued to spread to his liver, bones and abdomen. By 2014, it is said the cancer had spread so far that he was in constant pain, unable to even move his neck. The deadly disease had eaten deep into his bones and liver, with 26 tumors later detected in his abdomen.
Mr Chettle placed his last hope in chemotherapy. But soon, it worsened his situation. He therefore gave up all hope, and was considering end of life care.
However, his personal oncologist suggested he take part in a radical trial at John Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre in Baltimore, Maryland. The trial involved using immunotherapy drugs to trigger the body into healing itself. The drugs include Darzalax and pembrolizumab. The drug enables the human body's own immune system to hunt out and attack cancer cells. Chettle took part in the trial in 2014.
After taking part in the trial for only eight weeks, Chettle’s symptoms subsided, and within months, he was well enough to walk his daughter on the street. Currently, he has seen a complete response to the treatment — almost all of his tumors have now disappeared.
Mr Chettle's wonderful recovery was revealed at the conference of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The doctors who treated Chettle in the trial told the conference that they are hoping that they will be able to stop all treatment soon, and just keep Chettle under surveillance with regular scans.
At the conference, it was also revealed that many others who took part in the trial from different locations, also have showed massive improvement.
“It was spreading fast. I was limping. I couldn’t turn my neck. I was in a lot of pain. I feel like I’ve been blessed to have good doctors who led me to where I am, to be in that trial. I probably wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t sent me there,” Telegraph quoted Chettle as saying when his case was made public.
The researchers who conducted the trial announced that their clinical trials are now starting to combine immunotherapy drugs, instead of using them alone to increase their power. Combining immunotherapy to standard treatments is also said to be producing positive results. Chief medical officer of ASCO, Richard Schilsky said patients with multiple myeloma experienced dramatic results once they started using the combined treatment procedure.
Together with Chettle, 498 patients took part in the trial. Some had cancer that had come back, or had not responded to traditional treatment. Half were given the immunotherapy drug Darzalax in combination with two standard treatments bortezomib and dexamethasone, while half received the standard treatments on their own. The results showed that people given immunotherapy plus the standard drugs, had a 61% reduced risk of dying or their cancer getting worse, than those given standard treatments. Darzalax also achieved strong results. Some 59% of patients saw their tumors shrink significantly.
Some patients reportedly had a complete response, meaning doctors could find no trace of cancer in their bodies. The researchers described the trial as a milestone achievement in the fight against cancer.
Lead researcher of the trial, Dr Luis Diaz of Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, studied a genetic abnormality called mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency, to see if those with it are more likely to respond to one of the immunotherapy drugs, pembrolizumab.
Dr Diaz believed thousands more patients with terminal cancer could go into remission if immunotherapy drugs are used in new combinations.
The Chief Clinician of Cancer Research in the United Kingdom, Professor Peter Johnson said combining immunotherapy drugs had the potential to benefit thousands of people suffering from cancer. He said: "It's very exciting as it looks as though we can increase the power of the treatment."