Dostarlimab as a Miracle Drug: Rising Hope against Cancer Treatment

Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Aug 8;12(8):617. doi: 10.3390/bios12080617.

Abstract

Immunotherapy is one of the four pillars of cancer treatment that has recently emerged as a beacon of hope for cancer patients. Certain immunotherapies, for example, immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, monoclonal antibody therapy and chimeric antigen T-cell therapy have garnered extensive interest in response to their exceptional properties that activate the immune system to respond to cancer cells, inhibiting their progression. In the era of rapid development, dostarlimab, an anti-programmed cell death protein (PD-1) monoclonal antibody has mesmerized the medical profession by showing complete (100%) cure of patients with colorectal cancer. Not only this, the results obtained from clinical trials revealed no major side effects in any of the participants in the study. Dostarlimab has also shown promising results in endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma, head and neck cancer, and breast cancer therapy. This review focuses upon the action of immunotherapy, extensively emphasizing the miraculous therapy to activate T-cells for cancer treatment. Based on this, we discuss major ongoing clinical trials and combination immunotherapies to enlighten future clinicians and researchers about the response of dostarlimab against various cancers.

Keywords: cancer therapy; clinical trial; colon cancer; dostarlimab; drug delivery; immunotherapy.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Melanoma*
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor* / metabolism
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor* / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor
  • dostarlimab

Grants and funding

The author (Mohammed A. S. Abourehab) would like to thank the Deanship of scientific research at Umm Al-Qura University for supporting this work by grant code (22UQU4290565DSR50). The author (P. Kesharwani) acknowledges the financial support from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India, through Extramural Research Grants [35/10/2019-Nano/BMS and 5/13/8/2020/NCD-III].