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Editorial Volume 10 Issue 4
Dostarlimab-new ray of hope in cancer therapy
Pradip Mazumder
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Department of Physiology & Biochemistry, Siksha o Anusandhan, India
Correspondence: Pradip Mazumder, Department of Physiology & Biochemistry, Siksha o Anusandhan, India, Tel +918334006710
Received: July 10, 2022 | Published: July 13, 2022
Citation: Mazumder P. Dostarlimab-new ray of hope in cancer therapy. Pharm Pharmacol Int J. 2022;10(4):122. DOI: 10.15406/ppij.2022.10.00373
When 12 stage II and III rectal cancer patients were treated with Dostarlimab showed complete remission even after 6 months of follow up, people were effervescent. Never happened before in any cancer trial. Obviously, it raised optimism, a bit cautiously because the number of patients was small and the follow up period was short. Fingers crossed. Further studies are in progress.
What is Dostarlimab?
It is a monoclonal antibody (hence mab) of IgG 4 isotope against PD-1 (Programmed Cell Death Protein 1). Earlier PD -1 Blockade in preclinical models increased survivility in cancer.
Immune Check Point Inhibitors
Traditional Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery modestly increased survivility in advanced cancer patients. Recently, immunotherapeutic agents showed promise in substantially enhancing life span in few tumors, however, the efficacy and toxicity profile were not favorable, reason being redundancy in signaling pathways and toxicity. Of late a bunch of molecules known as checkpoint inhibitors showed promise to aid long term survival with reduced toxicity. Cancer cells develop mechanisms to evade host immune response and also block several effector and regulatory Cellular network of immune cells that can target and destroy cancer cell types. Checkpoint inhibitors block inegative regulatory influence of cancer cells on Immune response, release the brake. The potential targets of immune checkpoint inhibitors include PD-1, CTLA-4, LAG-3. All these potential anti cancer targets showed proof-of-concept in pre-clinical models. Few check point inhibitors entered Clinical trial with demonstrable encouraging results. Hope stays alive.
How does it act?
Dostarlimab binds to PD 1 Receptor and thereby prevents it’s signaling cascade through an interaction with it’s ligand PD- L1 and PD- L2 with consequent liberation of PD-1 to freely act and mount an immune attack on cancer cells. This is bolstering body’s own immune response, liberating it from evil design thrown upon by cancer cells.1
Adverse Effects
No life–threatening side effect has been reported. Few tolerable side effects include fatigue, diarrhea, bladder pain, feeling cold, sore throat, loss of hair. Progress in drug development in this area will come out with better efficacious and safer therapy.
Acknowledgments
None.
Conflicts of interest
Author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
References
©2022 Mazumder. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.
Citations
