Cancer Immunotherapy News and Research

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Polymer-based immunotherapies enhance tumor targeting and immune activation

Conventional immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies, can reinvigorate T cells but typically benefit less than 30% of patients.

21 May 2026

Engineered nanomaterials optimize delivery barriers in cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy works by mobilizing the body's own immune system to recognize and destroy malignant cells.

20 May 2026

Sensory nerve signals found to block lung cancer immunotherapy

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have revealed that sensory nerve signals interfere with the immune system's response to lung cancer.

19 May 2026

Researchers develop pH and redox-sensitive systems to reduce immunotherapy toxicity

Although cancer immunotherapy has transformed treatment by harnessing the immune system to eliminate tumors, only a small subset of patients benefit. Many solid tumors remain "cold," characterized by poor immune cell infiltration and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB).

15 May 2026

Turning the flu virus into a powerful tool to fight cancer

A recent Views & Comments article published in Engineering highlights advances in repurposing influenza viruses as flexible therapeutic platforms for infectious diseases and cancer, driven by progress in reverse genetics and viral vector engineering.

14 May 2026

Researchers uncover how bacterial toxin damages colon lining cells to trigger cancer

Since a landmark 2009 study, researchers have known that a common gut bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, drives colon tumor formation, potentially leading to colorectal cancer, by secreting a toxin that damages the lining of the colon.

8 May 2026

A new combined therapy to boost the immune system against cancer

Cancer immunotherapy is built on a simple but powerful idea: the immune system can recognize and destroy cancer cells if it is properly activated. In many patients, however, this response is too weak or too slow to be effective.

7 May 2026

Food timing may shape how T cells respond to infection and therapy

Short-term nutritional state can reshape T cell metabolism, with post-meal lipid metabolism enhancing T cell metabolic capacity, cytokine production, and persistence after activation. The study identifies triglyceride-rich chylomicrons as key drivers of this effect, suggesting nutritional timing may matter for immune monitoring, vaccination research, and cell-therapy manufacturing.

30 Apr 2026

Impaired protein recycling drives T cell exhaustion in cancer

T cells are crucial components of our immune system, serving as critical protectors against infection and disease.

30 Apr 2026

Eating creates temporary metabolic state that boosts T cell function

Diets and healthy eating habits hold promise for preventing and treating diseases, but far less is known about acute effects to the immune system shortly after a meal.

29 Apr 2026

Tumor immune cell patterns predict melanoma immunotherapy response

A new UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center study suggests that the way immune cells are organized inside melanoma tumors may help researchers better understand which patients will benefit from combination immunotherapy after standard anti-PD-1 treatment stops working - and which may not.

22 Apr 2026

Study creates genetic roadmap of how HIV virus interacts with human cells

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is the cause of AIDS, is a master of deception, using just nine genes to hijack the complex cellular machinery of the human body.

20 Apr 2026

Targeting glutamine metabolism enhances CAR-macrophage cancer therapy

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) within the tumor microenvironment (TME) exhibit significant metabolic dysregulation, which impairs their antitumor function.

20 Apr 2026

Scientists find unexpected immune pathways for mRNA cancer vaccines

The advent of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in 2020 changed the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

17 Apr 2026

Mitochondrial activity keeps dendritic cells ready to fight disease

Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) show that active mitochondria maintain dendritic cells, the immune system's sentinels, in a "ready-to-respond" state, linking cellular metabolism to gene regulation and T-cell activation.

15 Apr 2026

Study reveals why immunotherapy fails in pancreatic cancer

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have uncovered a key reason why immunotherapy has largely failed in pancreatic cancer - and identified a promising strategy to overcome that resistance.

11 Apr 2026

Damon Runyon supports young scientists driving cancer research innovation

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named 13 new Damon Runyon Fellows, exceptional postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators.

11 Apr 2026

Study maps DNA methylation changes driving MDS stem cell dysfunction

Published on April 01, 2026, in Volume 2, article number 19 of the journal Immunity & Inflammation, a collaborative team led by Prof. Cao at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, along with Dr. Liangding Hu at the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, and Professors Qian Zhang and Yanmei Han at the National Key Laboratory of Immunity and Inflammation, Naval Medical University, has generated the first base-resolution DNA methylome of human MDS HSCs.

9 Apr 2026

How the nutrient cysteine controls cancer-fighting power of T cells

A research team from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have discovered how the immune system's CD8+ T cells use the nutrient cysteine to control two essential functions that compete for this resource - the immune cell's ability to multiply and its ability to kill cancer cells.

31 Mar 2026

Lipid nanoparticles help CAR T cells melt pancreatic cancer barriers

Often diagnosed when surgery is no longer an option, pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat and has one of the lowest rates of survival among major malignancies.

31 Mar 2026