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，这是一种针对转移性结直肠癌患者的临床试验免疫治疗方案。通过在英国伦敦的一家胃肠癌诊所与患者和卫生专业人员进行的人类学实地调查，我梳理了科学家和临床医生组装个性化技术以阻止癌症在患者体内生长的动态；患者为了参与这些创新而经历了什么；以及限制这些治疗效果的限制因素。除了检查临床试验提供的治疗可能性之外，我还阐明了从下方进行个性化时可以看到的一些差距。