Keytruda

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RER3877
RER3877 Member Posts: 15 Member
edited March 6 in Prostate Cancer #1

Back in Aug 2023, I tried to find folks being treated with keytruda for prostate cancer. No luck at that time. Let’s try again - anyone out there on keytruda?

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  • Old Salt
    Old Salt Member Posts: 1,327 Member
    edited March 5 #2
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    Unfortunately, Keytruda has failed in several prostate cancer (phase 3) clinical trials. Hence, it is not SOC.

  • Clevelandguy
    Clevelandguy Member Posts: 1,013 Member
    #3
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    Hi,

    Had not read anything that suggests Keytruda has been a viable treatment drug for Prostate cancer. If it was me I might give Keytruda a try after all other treatment paths had proved unsuccessful.

    Dave 3+4

  • RER3877
    RER3877 Member Posts: 15 Member
    #4
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    Keytruda saved my life. But, you need to have a genetic screen to look for specific bio markers. If you have the markers, keytruda seems to work.

    I’m still not clear on what triggers the oncologist to look for those markers.

    If you haven’t had this discussion, worth asking the question next time you see the Dr.

  • Old Salt
    Old Salt Member Posts: 1,327 Member
    edited March 5 #5
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    Copied from the American Cancer Society website (Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer | American Cancer Society)

    Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer

    Immunotherapy is the use of medicines to stimulate a person’s own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells more effectively. Certain types of immunotherapy can be used to treat prostate cancer.

    Immune checkpoint inhibitors

    An important part of the immune system is its ability to keep itself from attacking the body’s normal cells. To do this, it uses “checkpoint” proteins on immune cells, which act like switches that need to be turned on (or off) to start an immune response. Cancer cells sometimes use these checkpoints to keep the immune system from attacking them. But drugs that target these checkpoints, known as checkpoint inhibitors, hold a lot of promise as cancer treatments.

    For example, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and dostarlimab (Jemperli) are drugs that target PD-1, a checkpoint protein on immune system cells called T cells. By blocking PD-1, these drugs boost the immune response.

    One of these drugs might be an option to treat some advanced prostate cancers, although this is rare.

    Pembrolizumab can be used if the cancer cells have any of the following:

    • A high level of microsatellite instability (MSI-H) or a defect in a mismatch repair gene (dMMR)
    • A high tumor mutational burden (TMB-H), meaning the cancer cells have many gene mutations


  • Old Salt
    Old Salt Member Posts: 1,327 Member
    edited March 5 #6
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  • Old Salt
    Old Salt Member Posts: 1,327 Member
    edited March 5 #7
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    RER3877 wrote: Keytruda saved my life

    Great; can you please tell us more?

    Original findings

    Treatment(s)

    Current status

  • RER3877
    RER3877 Member Posts: 15 Member
    #8
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    My profile tells most of the story. And as you noted, I do have MSIH…. Last PSA was <7 and tumors are shrinking or stable. Pretty amazing journey so far.

  • kttysheila
    kttysheila Member Posts: 2 Member
    #9
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    I finished 18 cycles of Keytruda in February 2024 for Melanoma. Had small intestine tumor removed and was melanoma of unknown origin in 2023. I am now NED and in the monitoring stage. Keytruda was a lifesaver for me for any spreading of the melanoma. Also, I did have the testing of the tumor to figure out what drug would be the best.

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