Jasmin David, a mother living in Manchester (Great Britain) was in her early fifties when doctors told her she could not hope to live more than a year. She suffered from aggressive breast cancer that had spread to her rib cage and lymph nodes. But the medical prognosis ultimately turned out to be too pessimistic, as this patient has just told on the BBC antenna.
The discovery of her cancer dates back to 2017, she was then treated with chemotherapy and underwent a mastectomy a year later. Radiation therapy completes the first phase of treatment.
But in 2019, his cancer is back with a catastrophic vital prognosis. She was then integrated into a clinical trial which began at The Christie hospital in Manchester. The National Institute for Health and Care Research is testing a new drug for 2 years in cancer patients.
A very effective long treatment
The treatment is done by injection, once every three weeks and combines several molecules, an experimental drug and atezolizumaba form of immunotherapy. As a reminder, the objective of this type of treatment is to send a signal to the killer lymphocytes to go and attack the cancerous cells lacking the marker which normally sends the information to the immune system that this intruder must be fought.
This treatment is not without side effects: “At the beginning, I had many horrible side effects, including headaches and temperature spikes. I spent Christmas in the hospital in a terrible state. Then , fortunately, I started to react well to the treatment” explains Jasmin David.
In June 2021, the results revealed that his cancer was completely gone. She admits that she now savors every day because “everything is a bonus”. The clinical trial is expected to last until the end of 2023.
Read also:
- Cancer: what is immunotherapy exactly?
- Breast cancer: targeted therapy could benefit more patients
- Immunotherapy: how do killer lymphocytes attack tumours?
