Locally advanced rectal cancer usually receives a three-part treatment: chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy and then surgery.

In a small-cohort study presented at this year’s ASCO conference researchers used a PD-1 inhibitor — dostarlimab — every three weeks for 6 months against the disease. All patients had mismatch repair deficient tumors. No other treatments were needed however, since the 12 patients all attained complete response if they completed the regimen.

As part of the NEJM Group’s coverage of ASCO, Christine Sadlowski interviewed the study’s first author, Dr. Andrea Cercek of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centern about the study and its implications.

The study as published in the New England Journal of Medicine