A cancer patient has told how a large tumour underneath her left breast 'dissolved away' after a pioneering new treatment. The 49-year-old woman showed a staggering response to a new combination of two drugs, to treat skin cancer. Doctors at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York have hailed their patient's recovery 'one of the most astonishing responses', ever seen. Scientists at the hospital have conducted a trial, treating patients diagnosed with advanced melanoma with a new type of treatment. They combined a standard drug already used, ipilimumab, with another, nivolumab. A 49-year-old cancer patient's giant tumour underneath her left breast (starred left) was 'completely destroyed' and 'dissolved away' (right) after she received a pioneering new drugs cocktail to treat melanoma . They hope the new therapy could save thousands of lives in future. A case report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, reveals that after just one dose of the two drugs, the 49-year-old woman reported her tumour 'kind of dissolved'. Four years ago doctors removed a 4.2mm melanoma from her back. After treatment, and a year-and-a-half later, doctors discovered the cancer had returned. Then five months ago, another growth was removed from under the patient's left breast. But despite surgery, the disease returned. When the patient arrived at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, she had developed a huge tumour underneath her left breast, which protruded through the skin. The woman was given her first dose of ipilimumab and nivolumab, without complaining of any side effects. When she returned to the hospital three weeks later, for her second dose of the drugs combination, she revealed to doctors the huge mass underneath her left breast had 'disappeared', leaving a hole in the skin. Doctors treating her said: 'This patient had a rapid eradication of a large tumour mass after a single treatment with combination immunotherapy.' She now, no longer has any detectable melanoma. 'This is one of the most astonishing responses I have seen,' said medical oncologist Paul Chapman. 'It reminds us of the potential power of the immune system if we can remove the "brakes" that keep it from attacking cancer cells.' The World Health Organisation estimates that worldwide there are 66,000 deaths annually from skin cancer, with approximately 80 per cent due to melanoma. Researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, led by medical oncologist Michael Postow, examined 142 patients with advanced melanoma, as part of their trials. Patients were randomly assigned to receive ipilimumab and nivolumab or ipilimumab plus a placebo. Those selected to receive ipilimumab with a placebo to start with, were later allowed to receive nivolumab if the first drug was ineffective. In a staggering 61 per cent of patients receiving the combination therapy, the researchers found significant tumour shrinkage. That was compared to just 11 per cent of the patients receiving ipilimumab plus a placebo. Patients receiving both drugs also lived longer without their disease progressing. The patient was treated as part of a clinical trial to test the effects of a new drugs combination on patients with advanced melanoma, pictured. The study found 61 per cent of those treated with ipilimumab and nivolumab showed signs of their tumours shrinking . But the side effects experienced by the patients on the combination therapy were worse, though they were still manageable. Dr Postow said: 'The incredibly high response rate seen in this trial for patients receiving the combination - approximately 60 per cent - now lets us tell patients that they have a high chance of significantly shrinking their melanoma with this treatment. 'More research is still needed, however, to know if it is necessary to give all patients this combination, or if patients should receive drugs like nivolumab and ipilimumab in sequence.' Senior author, Jedd Wolchok, chief of the melanoma and immunotherapeutics service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), said: 'We are excited about these results and believe they support the principle that rationally combining effective medicines is an approach to achieving better outcomes for patients.' The US Food and Drug Administration approved nivolumab late last year. Doctors at MSK helped spearhead clinical trials testing the drug's safety and effectiveness and continue to conduct studies using the drug to treat melanoma and other cancers. The findings were presented at the American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting.
Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York were trialling a new combination of drugs to treat advanced skin cancer .
Combined standard drug ipilimumab with new drug nivolumab .
Woman, 49, had one dose of the therapy and within weeks her tumour had completely disappeared, leaving a hole in the skin under her left breast .