CTLA 4 News and Research

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New prediction model can identify NSCLC patients who are not likely to respond to immunotherapy

Immunotherapy agents that inhibit the molecules PD1, PD-L1 or CTLA-4 have become widely used in clinical practice to treat non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC.

20 Aug 2021

Study finds durable responses to immunotherapy in rare angiosarcomas

In a small study of 16 patients with the rare cancer angiosarcoma, tumors in four patients partially or completely responded to treatment with a combination of the immunotherapy drugs ipilimumab and nivolumab.

13 Aug 2021

Two-arm molecule can deplete cancer-protecting cells to promote immune responses against tumors

A two-arm molecule can effectively deplete cancer-protecting cells inside tumors, allowing the immune system to fight off tumors without becoming overactive. The finding, published online in Science Translational Medicine, could lead to new types of cancer immunotherapies.

11 Aug 2021

New dietary fiber formulation improves the potency of cancer immunotherapies

Many people don't realize that the trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi residing within the gastrointestinal tract--collectively called the gut microbiome-- are connected to overall health, and specifically to cancer.

24 Jun 2021

Cancer immunotherapy may self-limit its efficacy in fighting tumors, study finds

Cancer immunotherapy involving drugs that inhibit CTLA-4 also activates an unwanted response that may self-limit its efficacy in fighting tumors, according to a new study led by Francesco Marangoni, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology & biophysics and member of the Institute for Immunology at the University of California, Irvine.

22 Jun 2021

Yale researchers provide new insights into acquired resistance to cancer immunotherapy

New research by Yale Cancer Center shows insights into modeling resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors, a form of cancer immunotherapy.

12 Apr 2021

Study characterizes shifting neoantigen burden between primary and metastatic tumors within HNSCC

Oncotarget published "Genomic and neoantigen evolution from primary tumor to first metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma" which reported that prior work has characterized changes in the mutation burden between primary and recurrent tumors; however, little work has characterized the changes in neoantigen evolution.

18 Mar 2021

Compound isolated from Moroccan fungus shows promise to fight triple negative breast cancer

A compound isolated from a fungus growing on the roots of a flowering plant in Morocco shows promise as a powerful opponent of aggressive triple negative breast cancer, scientists say.

4 Mar 2021

Sequential administration of immunotherapy and targeted therapy prolongs anti-tumor responses

Advanced melanoma is one of the deadliest types of cancer, with a 5-year survival rate of only 27% for patients with distant metastases.

2 Mar 2021

Study suggests a new way to personalize anti-CTLA-4 therapy for cancers

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.

15 Feb 2021

Researchers discover protein crucial to T cell metabolism and anti-tumor immune response

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that a protein called NF-kappa B-inducing kinase (NIK) is essential for the shift in metabolic activity that occurs with T cell activation, making it a critical factor in regulating the anti-tumor immune response.

4 Jan 2021

Polygenic risk scores from multi-population data could improve IBD predictions

Using genetic data from nearly 30,000 people, Mount Sinai researchers have built risk scores from a combination of datasets representing distinct ancestral populations that improve prediction of risk for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The study was published in Gastroenterology on December 24.

24 Dec 2020

Immunologic modeling of COVID-19 severity and chronicity

In a new study by researchers at Universidad de Costa Rica and other institutions, a bioinformatics approach is used to determine whether Chronic COVID-19 (CC) might have a distinct immunologic signature compared to the mild to moderate (MM) or the severe/critical COVID-19.

24 Dec 2020

Arthritis drug may be effective in treating immunotherapy-related heart complication

A drug typically prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis may also be effective in treating a rare but potentially deadly heart complication some cancer patients experience after taking immunotherapies, according to a study published in Cancer Discovery and co-led by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

21 Dec 2020

Computational method could predict immunotherapy response in patients with advanced melanoma

A computational method that combines clinicodemographic variables with deep learning of pre-treatment histology images could predict response to immune checkpoint blockade among patients with advanced melanoma.

18 Nov 2020

Immunotherapy combination shrinks rare angiosarcoma tumors in 25% of patients

Researchers from SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cancer clinical trials group funded by the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment, part of the National Institutes of Health, have shown that the immunotherapy combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab shrinks rare angiosarcoma tumors in 25 percent of all patients, with some having an even stronger response to the drug combination.

15 Nov 2020

Immunotherapy drugs trigger inflammatory arthritis in subset of cancer patients

Since doctors began treating cancer patients with immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors nearly a decade ago, they have observed that a subset of these patients experience a side effect that clinically looks like inflammatory arthritis.

10 Nov 2020

Researchers find a new therapeutic approach to combat leukemia

Leukemia frequently originates from the so-called leukemic stem cell, which resides in a tumor promoting and protecting niche within the bone marrow. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, have found a new way to make these cells vulnerable by specifically dislodging these cells from their niches.

23 Oct 2020

Researchers show a simple way to protect transplanted islets from rejection

Type 1 diabetes, or T1D, results from the autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. People with T1D require exogenous insulin and suffer swings in the levels of glucose in the blood that impact life expectancy and increase risks of cardiovascular disease, neuropathies and kidney failure.

22 Oct 2020

Patients with soft-tissue cancer show rapid and complete response to novel combination of immunotherapy

A patient with end-stage and rapidly progressing soft-tissue cancer whose tumor did not respond to standard treatment, had a "rapid and complete response" to a novel combination of immunotherapy, according to new research published by a team of scientists from John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center and the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, both of whom are part of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium.

16 Oct 2020