Immunotherapy News and Research

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Immunotherapy is the concept of using the immune system to treat disease, for example, developing a vaccine against cancer. Immunotherapy may also refer to the therapy of diseases caused by the immune system, allergies for example.

Epigenetic therapy can boost the ability of immune killer T-cells to destroy cancer cells

Developing “super soldiers” of particular white blood cells to promote an anti-tumor reaction has been demonstrated in a series of well-designed experiments.

23 Feb 2021

New hydrogel shrinks tumors in melanoma mice model

Recently, messenger RNA, also called mRNA, vaccines, to combat the COVID-19 infection have made headlines worldwide, but researchers have already been experimenting with mRNA vaccines to prevent or cure other illnesses, including certain types of cancer.

18 Feb 2021

Study identifies how CTLA-4 blockade can disable suppressive immune cells to aid tumor destruction

A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a novel mechanism by which a type of cancer immunotherapy known as CTLA-4 blockade can disable suppressive immune cells to aid the destruction of certain tumors.

18 Feb 2021

Research links blood-clotting protein with CNS B-cell lymphoma growth

In people with central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma, cancerous B cells--a type of white blood cell--accumulate to form tumors in the brain or spinal cord, often in close proximity to blood vessels.

18 Feb 2021

Testing for inherited genes can help understand future cancer risk in pediatric patients

Because cancers in children are rare, many details about their biology remain unknown. In the field of cancer genetics, there's a limited understanding of how inherited genetic changes may contribute to the formation and growth of tumors.

17 Feb 2021

Study suggests a way to improve immunotherapy by altering immune cells’ access to sugar

Cancer cells and immune cells share something in common: They both love sugar. Sugar is an important nutrient. All cells use sugar as a vital source of energy and building blocks. For immune cells, gobbling up sugar is a good thing, since it means getting enough nutrients to grow and divide for stronger immune responses. But cancer cells use sugar for more nefarious ends.

17 Feb 2021

Gut microbiome alterations help melanoma patients to respond to immunotherapy

Statistical modeling developed by Oregon State University researchers has confirmed that changes to melanoma patients' gut microbiome led them to respond to a type of treatment capable of providing long-term benefit.

17 Feb 2021

Tumor microenvironment could improve cancer immunotherapy

A study has revealed how chemicals surrounding tumors, the tumor microenvironment, undermine the immune system and allow cancer to resist attack.

16 Feb 2021

New understanding of tumor microenvironment could help enhance immunotherapy

A paper published today in Nature shows how chemicals in the areas surrounding tumors--known as the tumor microenvironment--subvert the immune system and enable cancer to evade attack. These findings suggest that an existing drug could boost cancer immunotherapy.

16 Feb 2021

Inherited genetic variation plays a role in how patients respond to cancer immunotherapy

For all their importance as a breakthrough treatment, the cancer immunotherapies known as checkpoint inhibitors still only benefit a small minority of patients, perhaps 15 percent across different types of cancer. Moreover, doctors cannot accurately predict which of their patients will respond.

11 Feb 2021

AI analyzes tissue scans to identify cancer patients at risk of hyperprogressive disease

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University, using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze simple tissue scans, say they have discovered biomarkers that could tell doctors which lung cancer patients might actually get worse from immunotherapy.

5 Feb 2021

Fecal microbiota transplant helps cancer patients respond to immunotherapy

For patients with cancers that do not respond to immunotherapy drugs, adjusting the composition of microorganisms in the intestines--known as the gut microbiome--through the use of a stool, or fecal, transplants may help some of these individuals respond to the immunotherapy drugs, a new study suggests.

5 Feb 2021

Study provides a causal link between the Alzheimer's risk gene and COVID-19

A City of Hope-led research team found that the same gene that increases the risk for Alzheimer's disease, ApoE4, can increase the susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19.

5 Feb 2021

Advances in cancer research can expand effectiveness of immunotherapy

Scientists are hoping advances in cancer research could lead to a day when a patient's own immune system could be used to fight and destroy a wide range of tumors.

3 Feb 2021

Breast cancer-on-a-chip for rapid screening of immunotherapeutic drugs

There are many mechanisms by which the body responds to foreign invaders. One of these involves the T-cells of the immune system, which have a number of different proteins on their surface called "checkpoint proteins."

3 Feb 2021

Targeting glycoprotein could improve response to immune checkpoint therapy

It was an unexpected discovery that started with an analysis of more than 1,000 genes. The question: why game-changing cancer immunotherapy treatments work for only a fraction of patients.

29 Jan 2021

Changes in mitochondria could cause health problems in Space

News-Medical speaks to Dr. Beheshti from NASA about his latest research that investigated whether changes in mitochondria could cause health problems in Space.

29 Jan 2021

Research shows how breast cancer cells evade immune attacks

Scientists from Indiana University have discovered how breast cancer cells evade immune cells to survive.

28 Jan 2021

Genetic changes in tumors could help predict patient's response to immunotherapy drugs

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, the UCL Cancer Institute, and the Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence have identified genetic changes in tumours which could be used to predict if immunotherapy drugs would be effective in individual patients.

28 Jan 2021

New protocol identifies mismatch repair deficiency

Researchers have developed a new integrated genetic/epigenetic DNA-sequencing protocol known as MultiMMR that can identify the presence and cause of mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency in a single test from a small sample of DNA in the colon, endometrial, and other cancers.

22 Jan 2021