Meanwhile....
A new patient on the MAST trial is posting updates on the Colon Cancer Support Group website. They say they are being treated for "liver tumours."
Quote: "Although around 40 of the 100 phase 1 patients globally have been dosed, I am in the first cohort of the intratumoural delivery arm (i.e. direct injection of the virus into liver tumours), while the other cohort so far has all been IV. I will not be receiving pembrolizumab (Keytruda) - this is a different arm again (I am MSS, although this was randomised)."
Their comment about being in "the first cohort" cannot be correct though, because they have only just started treatment and we know that the IT arm of the trial is already at the
5th cohort, not the first cohort. That would be an easy misunderstanding to have, but I assume they are correct when they say that they are not receiving Keytruda.
They had their first IT dose a few days ago, and the intra-tumoural IT arm is currently at Cohort 5, with a dosage level of 3 x 10
8 which is 300 million PFU. They report mild symptoms only - "a bit like you do after a vaccination" - which is "Welcome compared to chemo!" They have had liver biopsies and a SPECT scan is coming up this week some time - presumably to see how well the virus is replicating.
https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=66973&p=517598&hilit=VAXINIA#p517598Thinking about it -
Although they say they have Liver tumours, it is possible they are using that general term when they are actually part of the Bile Duct cancer expansion group, which is all monotherapy. Biliary Cancer/Cholangiocarcinoma is a form of liver cancer, and if they have that in an advanced form they may also have secondary dare tumours in their liver. So when they say they are in the "first cohort of the IT delivery arm" - possibly this means they are in the first group of the IT
expansion cohort for Biliary Cancer. This seems a reasonable explanation of their comment about being in the "first cohort" - which otherwise does not make sense.
Either way - here's hoping things go extremely well for "Rock_Robster" - and for everyone else on the MAST trial.
Cheers
Dave
(20min delay)