ABSTRACT

I analyze the promised efficacy of Pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy regime under clinical trial for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork with patients and health professionals in a gastrointestinal cancer clinic in London, UK, I tease out the dynamics through which scientists and clinicians assemble personalized technologies to halt cancer growth in patients’ bodies; what patients undergo in order to participate in these innovations; and the constraints that restrict the efficacy of these treatments. Beyond examining the treatment possibilities that clinical trials offer, I illuminate some of the gaps made visible when personalization happens from below.

摘要

我分析了Pembrolizumab的预期疗效，该药物是一项针对转移性结直肠癌患者的临床试验中的免疫治疗方案。我在英国伦敦的胃肠道癌症诊所中与患者和卫生专业人员进行了人类学现场调查，以此来探讨科学家和临床医生组装个性化技术以阻止患者体内癌症生长的动力。病人经历了什么才能参与这些创新；以及限制这些治疗效果的限制因素。除了研究临床试验提供的治疗可能性之外，我还将介绍一些个性化功能从下面发生时可以看到的空白。