Cancer Immunotherapy News and Research

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Metabolic-checkpoint inhibitor combination approach may improve cancer therapies

Reprogramming of the molecular pathways underlying normal metabolism is essential for T cell infection-fighting function and for the immune system to form a "memory" of the microbes it has already encountered. But exactly how metabolism in exhausted T cells is maintained in chronic infections and cancer is a missing element in this line of research.

3 Aug 2016

Research finding opens door to potential clinical approaches that may boost body's ability to battle cancer

The microenvironment that supports a cancerous tumor also starves the immune cells that the body sends in to destroy the cancer, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute scientists revealed in a discovery that holds the potential to significantly boost the performance of breakthrough immunotherapy drugs.

2 Aug 2016

UCI molecular biologists find new way to combat skin cancer

Using new and innovative immune-therapeutic approaches to silence "don't eat me" signaling proteins recognized by specialized cells of the immune system, University of California, Irvine molecular biologists and their colleagues have identified an effective way to combat metastatic melanoma.

2 Aug 2016

Roche announces FDA approval of new VENTANA PD-L1 assay

Roche today announced approval of the VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142) Assay by the US Food and Drug Administration as a complementary diagnostic to provide PD-L1 status on patients who are considering treatment with the FDA approved Roche immunotherapy TECENTRIQ™ (atezolizumab) for metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC).

30 Jul 2016

Cancer immunotherapy could treat HIV

A type of immunotherapy that has shown promising results against cancer could also be used against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

17 Jul 2016

Two new studies find potential genetic cause and new treatment method for autoimmune diseases

The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. is spotlighting two new research studies originally reported in ScienceDaily.

13 Jul 2016

Study could offer new ways to enhance cancer immunotherapy

When an immune T cell divides into two daughter cells, the activity of an enzyme called mTORC1, which controls protein production, splits unevenly between the progeny, producing two cells with different properties.

4 Jul 2016

Dr. Pinchas Tsukerman earns prestigious Kaye Innovation Award for research on cancer immunotherapy

The importance of the body's immune system in protecting against the creation of cancerous tumors has been known for a long time. But despite the existence of a competent immune system, some individuals develop tumors, in part because tumors have ways to evade destructive immunity or induce immune-suppression.

9 Jun 2016

Existing immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab shows promise for specific sarcoma subtypes

An existing cancer immunotherapy drug reduces tumor size in some types of rare connective tissue cancers, called sarcomas, report researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

7 Jun 2016

Autoimmune diseases among lung cancer patients may make them unsuitable for immunotherapy

A significant proportion of lung cancer patients also have autoimmune disease, which may make them unsuitable for increasingly popular immunotherapy treatments, a team of researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center's Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.

6 Jun 2016

Nivolumab drug shows better response rate in metastatic bladder cancer patients

The immune checkpoint blockade drug nivolumab reduced tumor burden in 24.4 percent of patients with metastatic bladder cancer, regardless of whether their tumors had a biomarker related to the drug's target, according to clinical trial results from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

6 Jun 2016

Experts urge cancer researchers to use old, obese mice for preclinical immunotherapy studies

Researchers should include laboratory mice that are old and obese in their studies of immunotherapy treatments for cancer, according to a review article by Saint Louis University scientists.

2 Jun 2016

Applying deep neural networks to predict pharmacologic properties of drugs and drug repurposing

Deep learning, frequently referred to as artificial intelligence, a branch of machine learning utilizing multiple layers of neurons to model high-level abstractions in data, has outperformed humans in tasks including image, text and voice recognition, autonomous driving and others, and is now being applied to drug discovery and biomarker development.

28 May 2016

Borrowed immune system may help combat cancer

A new step in cancer immunotherapy: researchers from the University of Oslo/Oslo University Hospital and the Netherlands Cancer Institute show that even if one's own immune cells cannot recognize and fight their tumors, someone else's immune cells might.

20 May 2016

Research on immune system sets stage for novel approach to cancer immunotherapy

Basic research into the dual nature of certain immune system cells has set the stage for a new approach to cancer immunotherapy that avoids some of the shortcomings associated with other methods, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report in a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

17 May 2016

Simultaneous DNA, RNA and protein analysis to enhance cancer immunology studies: an interview with Dr Joseph Beechem

Cancer immunology is all about how your immune cells are going to fight and kill your tumor cells. If you look at the pure genetic code of a T-cell that's going to kill your tumor compared to the same cell that has been “put-to-sleep” (by the tumor), the pure genetic DNA content of those two cells are identical.

From NanoString Technologies 11 May 2016

Study paves way for refining antibody-based cancer immunotherapy

A study coordinated by the Malmberg Laboratory at Oslo University Hospital/University of Oslo and the Karolinska Institute, published in Cell Reports, reveals a molecule that trigger cancer recognition in natural killer (NK) cells.

22 Apr 2016

Better way to model human immune system

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have developed a new way to study mice that better mimics the immune system of adult humans and which could significantly improve ways to test potential therapeutics. Published online today in the journal Nature, the researchers describe the limitations of laboratory mice for immunology research and reveal the benefits of what they are calling "dirty mice."

21 Apr 2016

Immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab shrinks tumors in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma

In a clinical trial of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, half of 25 patients with a rare type of virus-linked skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma experienced substantial tumor shrinkage lasting nearly three times as long, on average, than with conventional chemotherapy.

20 Apr 2016

Bonn mathematicians develop new model for cancer immunotherapy

Mathematicians and physicians at the University of Bonn have developed a new model for immunotherapy of cancer. The method could help to develop new treatment strategies and to understand why some approaches do not work with certain tumors. The study is now appearing in the technical journal "Scientific Reports".

12 Apr 2016