Immunotherapy News and Research

Latest Immunotherapy News and Research

Combination therapy boosts the immune system's appetite for cancer

A combination of immunotherapy agents that encourages some immune cells to eat cancer cells and alert others to attack tumors put mice with a deadly type of brain cancer called glioblastoma into long-term remission, a new study led by UT Southwestern scientists suggests.

24 Apr 2020

First COVID-19-related clinical trial to start in Germany

German regulators have approved the first clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. Developed by BioNTech SE, an immunotherapy company, and Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company, the potential coronavirus vaccine has completed pre-clinical studies in Germany.

24 Apr 2020

Researchers discover physiological mechanisms underlying pediatric B-ALL

B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is characterized by the accumulation of abnormal immature B-cell precursors in the bone marrow and is the most common pediatric cancer.

23 Apr 2020

EPFL scientists identify new therapeutic target for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a group of cancers that originate in the lymph nodes and affect white blood cells of the immune system called B cells.

23 Apr 2020

Using 'own' immune cells to fight infectious diseases including COVID-19

A provocative paper from Duke-NUS Medical School, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in March 2020, discusses the possibilities of creating new receptors on a sick person's own immune cells as a means of controlling the infection. This therapy is already being used to treat certain cancers with marked success.

22 Apr 2020

Researchers uncover how cancer cells don their invisibility cloaks

Immunotherapy drugs that target a protein called programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) on the surface of cancer cells have quickly become a mainstay to treat many forms of cancer, often with dramatic results. But exactly how cancer cells turn on this protein was not completely understood.

22 Apr 2020

New findings could make immunotherapy treatments effective for more cancer patients

Scientists have developed a new way to map the molecules on tumour cells that flag their presence to the immune system, according to a study published today in eLife.

22 Apr 2020

Researchers are exploring potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases

The engineering of specific virus-targeting receptors onto a patient's own immune cells is now being explored by scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS), as a potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases, including the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2.

22 Apr 2020

Cancer immunotherapy can lead to inflammation of the heart muscle

Immunotherapy is a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer, but inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) is one of its most serious side effects.

17 Apr 2020

Specialized proteins could soak up excess cytokines in COVID-19 patients

One of the defining features of Covid-19 is the excessive immune response that can occur in severe cases. This burst of immune overreaction, also called a cytokine storm, damages the lungs and can be fatal.

16 Apr 2020

Octapharma USA supports new COVID-19 clinical trial

Octapharma USA is supporting a new investigator initiated clinical trial led by George Sakoulas, M.D. of Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California focused on treating the most critical patients at the heart of the coronavirus pandemic, those experiencing respiratory failure who become ventilator dependent.

16 Apr 2020

Chronic stress can influence the efficacy of radiation therapy, study suggests

Radiation is one of the oldest and most common therapies for cancer, and typically is delivered locally, or to specific targeted sites in the body.

15 Apr 2020

Molecular pathway that controls immunosuppression in tumors identified

An active immune system plays an important role in stopping cancer progression by identifying tumor cells and targeting them for destruction. Any deviation in the normal activities of the immune system could lead to accelerated tumor growth.

14 Apr 2020

Molecular pathway responsible for TNBC's progression and spread identified

Immunotherapies have revolutionized treatment for people with a variety of cancers. But when given to those with triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease, less than 20% respond.

13 Apr 2020

Missing BAP1 gene renders immunotherapies ineffectual in uveal melanomas

New study from researchers in Finland and the United Kingdom reveals that tumors lacking a protein called BAP1 have an ineffective immune reaction against cancer, thus rendering immunotherapies ineffectual, particularly in uveal melanomas.

9 Apr 2020

Metastatic bladder cancer significantly slowed by treating with immunotherapy after chemotherapy

Using immunotherapy immediately after chemotherapy in patients with metastatic bladder cancer slowed cancer progression.

9 Apr 2020

Research suggests potential treatment target to slow lymphoma tumor growth

Researchers at the MDC observe the very early stages of blood vessel development in lymph node tumors.

7 Apr 2020

Immunotherapy prior to surgery is effective in colon cancer

Patients with colon cancer, but no distant metastases, can benefit from immunotherapy while waiting for surgery.

6 Apr 2020

Starving pancreatic cancer cells of cysteine may induce tumor ferroptosis

A new study from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests a compound in development for a rare kidney stone disease may have potential against pancreatic cancer.

2 Apr 2020

Immunotherapy may benefit mCRPC patients with specific markers of immune activation

Although metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer typically has limited response to immunotherapy, a subset of patients with pretreatment evidence of active T-cell responses in their tumors experienced prolonged survival following treatment with ipilimumab in a Phase II trial at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

1 Apr 2020