Immunotherapy News and Research

Latest Immunotherapy News and Research

Scientist decodes the language of memory cells

When an infection attacks, the body's immune system sounds the alert, kills the invading germs and remembers the pathogen to protect against contracting the same type of infection again.

23 Jan 2009

Gene therapy kills brain tumors through selective recruitment of immune cells

Scientists seeking to harness the power of the immune system to eradicate brain tumors face two major hurdles: recruiting key immune cells called dendritic cells into areas of the brain where they are not naturally found and helping them recognize tumor cells as targets for attack.

13 Jan 2009

Novel low-cost immunotherapy for cancer cells

Molecules of sugar sitting on the surface of cancer cells are keys to the development of a new vaccine aimed at both treating and stopping the spread of certain types of cancers called carcinomas, which include prostate, breast, ovarian and lung, among others.

8 Jan 2009

New guidelines for malignant melanoma

The German Cancer Society has worked out new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of malignant melanoma - a disease with unfavorable prognosis.

18 Dec 2008

Preventing food allergies in children - a change of strategy?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States in 2007 around 3 million children under 18 had food allergies - a rise of 18% since 1997.

17 Dec 2008

Lessons from Northwick Park drug-trial disaster

Scientists investigating the 2006 Northwick Park drug-trial disaster that left six healthy volunteers hospitalised say they have developed new pre-clinical tests that could have stopped the trial from ever going ahead.

From The University of Manchester 15 Dec 2008

Alzheimer's researcher explores the variety of animal models now being used in research

Very few species spontaneously develop the cognitive, behavioral and neuropathological symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet AD research must progress at a more rapid pace than the rate of human aging.

15 Dec 2008

Lenalidomide safe for elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The oral medication lenalidomide is safe and well-tolerated for elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a group without a well-defined frontline therapy for their disease, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported today at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

8 Dec 2008

Rituxan in combination with chemo improves survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Genentech, Inc. and Biogen Idec have announced that two global Phase III studies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), CLL8 and REACH, showed Rituxan (rituximab) plus chemotherapy significantly increased the time patients lived without their disease advancing, as defined by the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS), when compared to chemotherapy alone.

8 Dec 2008

Novel therapeutic approaches for various forms of thrombocytopenia

Four studies that highlight significant advances in treatment and survival outcomes for patients with various forms of thrombocytopenia, a group of bleeding disorders characterized by a low number of platelets in the blood, were presented December 6 during the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, CA.

8 Dec 2008

New method improves immunotherapy

A study published by Elsevier this month in Clinical Immunology, the official journal of the Clinical Immunology Society (CIS), describes a new method that facilitates the induction of a specific type of immune suppressive cells, called 'regulatory T cells' for therapeutic use.

1 Dec 2008

Protein indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase points to new pancreatic cancer therapies

An enzyme that is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer cells may hold the key to successfully treating the disease with targeted immunotherapy, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University reported at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Southern Surgical Association.

1 Dec 2008

New European food allergy research

A team of scientists from across Europe are embarking on new research to develop a treatment for food allergy.

30 Nov 2008

Medarex starts phase 1b clinical trial with MDX-1106 for the treatment of cancer

Medarex, Inc. has announced it has initiated a Phase 1b clinical trial for MDX-1106 (ONO-4538: development code of Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), a fully human anti-PD-1 antibody for the treatment of cancer.

24 Nov 2008

Smoking causes bladder cancer

The Great American Smokeout is this Thursday, and the American Urological Association (AUA) gives smokers another good reason to quit: Smoking causes bladder cancer.

17 Nov 2008

Study suggests Siemens non-invasive blood test may have a role in monitoring breast cancer patients' response to Herceptin

Siemens Healthcare announced that data from a new study published in the American Cancer Society journal Cancer, supports using the Siemens Serum HER-2/neu test to monitor patients with an aggressive type of metastatic breast cancer.

17 Nov 2008

Food allergies are on the rise but effective treatment in the pipeline

Experts in the U.S. say food allergies are on the rise and although strict avoidance is currently the only treatment, new effective therapies are currently being developed.

10 Nov 2008

Efficacy, dosage concerns unresolved on sublingual immunotherapy

Although sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is used in Europe and other countries, experts at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Seattle say questions remain unanswered regarding its effectiveness, appropriate use, dosage, and safety of administration.

7 Nov 2008

Drinking milk to ease milk allergy?

Giving children with milk allergies increasingly higher doses of milk over time may ease, and even help them completely overcome, their allergic reactions, according to the results of a study led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and conducted jointly with Duke University.

29 Oct 2008

Inovio Biomedical achieves 75% complete response rate in preclinical testing of DNA-based cancer vaccine using its electroporation DNA delivery system

Inovio Biomedical Corporation announced today that it achieved positive results from its proprietary research and development program for DNA-based cancer vaccines delivered using the company's electroporation-based DNA delivery technology.

15 Sep 2008