Cancer Immunotherapy News and Research

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Immunotherapy drug can be effective in treating patients with recurrent brain tumors

A UCLA-led study suggests that for people with recurrent glioblastoma, administering an immunotherapy drug before surgery is more effective than using the drug afterward.

11 Feb 2019

Immunotherapy may be better than chemotherapy for Merkel cell carcinoma

The first study of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab as the initial treatment for patients with a rare but aggressive form of skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma reports better responses and longer survival than expected with conventional chemotherapy.

11 Feb 2019

Stand Up To Cancer creates Dream Team focused on finding therapies for T-cell lymphoma

Stand Up To Cancer announced here today the creation of an $8 million Dream Team of top scientists focused on finding therapies for T-cell lymphoma, a rare cancer of the blood and immune system, using chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to trigger the immune system to attack and destroy cancerous cells.

29 Jan 2019

UCLA researchers demonstrate new technique to develop cancer-fighting T cells

A study by UCLA researchers is the first to demonstrate a technique for coaxing pluripotent stem cells -- which can give rise to every cell type in the body and which can be grown indefinitely in the lab -- into becoming mature T cells capable of killing tumor cells.

18 Jan 2019

New, potential therapy can disrupt myeloid cells that promote tumor growth

Cancerous tumors trick myeloid cells, an important part of the immune system, into perceiving them as a damaged part of the body; the tumors actually put myeloid cells to work helping them grow and metastasize (spread).

7 Jan 2019

Metal-based chemotherapy enhances the effect of cancer immunotherapy

Due to their powerful tumor-killing effect, metal-based chemotherapies are frequently used in cancer treatment. However, it was hitherto assumed that they damaged the immune system, because of their cytotoxic (cell-damaging) effect even against dividing healthy cells.

18 Dec 2018

Nobel Laureates lecture about immune checkpoint therapy for cancer treatment

The Nobel Lectures held by the laureates of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine saw Aula Medica at Karolinska Institutet filled to the brink. In addition to 1,000 audience members in the auditorium, people around the world were able to watch the live broadcast when James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo talked about their research, the results of which have led to the ground-breaking immune checkpoint therapy for cancer treatment.

12 Dec 2018

The EORTC Brain Tumor Group and Protagen AG collaborate to study immuno-competence of long-term glioblastoma survivors

The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Brain Tumor Group and Protagen AG today announced a collaboration to utilize Protagen’s Cancer Immunotherapy Array to identify autoantibody biomarkers that investigate the immunological profile and immuno-competence of long-term Glioblastoma survivors.

12 Dec 2018

Lund University researchers succeed in obtaining dendritic cells by direct reprogramming

For the first time, a research team at Lund University in Sweden has successfully reprogrammed mouse and human skin cells into immune cells called dendritic cells.

9 Dec 2018

Study sheds new light on microtubule binding proteins and microtubule dynamics

When bacteria or viruses enter the body, proteins on their surfaces are recognized and processed to activate T cells, white blood cells with critical roles in fighting infections.

6 Dec 2018

New approach turns B cells into factories that secrete sacs containing microRNAs

Cancer immunotherapy -- efforts to better arm a patient's own immune system to attack tumors -- has shown great potential for treating some cancers. Yet immunotherapy doesn't work for everyone, and some types of treatment can cause serious side effects.

5 Dec 2018

Physician-scientists present updated efficacy data on CAR T-cell gene immunotherapy

Physician-scientists from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia presented updated efficacy and safety data on Kymriah--the first-ever U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved personalized CAR T-cell gene immunotherapy for aggressive blood cancers at the 60th American Society of Hematology annual meeting, as well as first-of-its-kind research on overcoming CAR T-cell resistance.

5 Dec 2018

International study increases group of lung cancer patients who may benefit from immunotherapy

The strategy for triggering the patient's own immune system to attack cancer, immunotherapy, is proving effective for more and more tumor types, although to varying degrees.

4 Dec 2018

Triple combination cancer immunotherapy improves survival in mouse model of melanoma

Adoptive cell transfer is a promising cancer immunotherapy that involves isolating T cells from cancer patients that are capable of targeting their tumor, selecting the more active T cells and expanding those in the lab, and then transfusing them back into patients.

30 Nov 2018

Study: Measuring and monitoring tumor DNA can help reveal early melanoma growth

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have added to evidence that measuring and monitoring tumor DNA that naturally circulates in the blood of melanoma patients can not only reliably help reveal the early stages of cancer growth and spread but also uncover new treatment options that tumor genetic analysis alone may not.

27 Nov 2018

CRISPR-based tool shown to enhance cell-based immunotherapy

Researchers have developed a CRISPR-based tool called SLICE that can boost the effectiveness of immune cell therapies.

15 Nov 2018

Cytokine levels could predict autoimmune reactions to cancer immunotherapy

The development of immunotherapy, which mobilizes the body's own immune system to destroy cancer cells, is one of the greatest advances in cancer treatment, but immunotherapy can cause harm to healthy tissue in some patients.

31 Oct 2018

Study shows how machinery within immune system activates T cells to attack cancer

In just a few years, CAR T-cell and other adoptive T-cell therapies have emerged as among the most promising forms of cancer immunotherapy.

31 Oct 2018

Study reveals how Seneca Valley Virus interacts with tumor receptors

Seneca Valley Virus sounds like the last bug you’d want to catch, but it could be the next breakthrough cancer therapy.

30 Oct 2018

Scientists find ways to block nitration of amino acids to improve cancer immunotherapy

Immunotherapy -- harnessing T-cells to attack cancer cells in the body -- has given hope to patients who endure round after round of treatment, including chemotherapy, to little effect. For all of its promise, however, immunotherapy still benefits only a minority of patients -- a reality driving research in the field for ways to improve the relatively new approach.