Scientists advice to give cancer patients thorough immunotherapy before undergoing surgery to remove dangerous tumours as they hail what they call "cancer interception" capable of stopping the disease in its tracks.
Oncology teams are now set to try this approach on patients with blood, colon and ovarian cancers in what could be the basis to anti-cancer therapy.
According to reorts, Oncologists at Johns Hopkins University and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center administered the immunotherapy drug nivolumab over some months to about 21 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer prior to surgery.
They reported the strategy was safe and that 45 per cent of the patients responded so well there was little evidence of the cancer remaining upon thorough medical follow-ups.
Recurrence-free survival at 18 months was 73 per cent.
On the new approach, Dr Sung Poblete, President of Stand Up To Cancer, which funded the research said:
"That T-cells, activated by immunotherapy prior to surgery, can intercept rogue tumor cells throughout the body after the patient's operation and prevent the cancer from recurring may be a game-changer."
"This notion of 'cancer interception' has the potential to stop cancer in its tracks."
"We are hopeful that this breakthrough, and the follow-up clinical studies already underway, will translate into a new standard of care."The Study has been presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Alison Cook, Director of Policy for the British Lung Foundation, said:
"This research is so full of hope, for all of those people who are going to face lung cancer. People can feel encouraged to come forward if they have worrying symptoms knowing that their chances of being cured are going to be significantly better with this treatment alongside surgery."
"Early diagnosis is so vital in the fight against lung cancer, and often people with symptoms delay seeing a doctor due to fear of invasive, painful treatments that might do little in the end to improve their chances. Treatment tomorrow is going to look very different from what’s on offer today - more lives will be saved."
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