immunotherapy tagged posts

Cancer immunotherapy under the microscope: In the center of the image, three killer cells (violet, smaller) attack a cancer cell (violet, larger; leukemia cells are shown here). Credit: Schliemann et al.: Cancer Immunol Res 2015, 3: 547

The use of immunotherapy to treat cancer is celebrating its first successes but there are still many knowledge gaps in the underlying mechanisms of action. In a study of mice with soft tissue tumors, ETH researchers have now shown how endogenous killer cells track down the tumors with the help of dormant viruses. The promising drug is F8-TNF. When injected into the bloodstream, it lures killer cells towards sarcomas which destroys the tumors...

Targeting just one of the genes – known as Spns2 – led to a three-quarters reduction in the spread of skin cancer tumours, pictured under the microscope,, the experts found

A new biological target for drugs to reduce the spread of tumours in cancer patients has been found by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Published in Nature today, the study with genetically modified mice found 23 genes out of 810 unique genes that either increased or decreased the spread of skin tumour cells to the lungs. Many of these genes also caused an alteration in the immune system, such as changing the bodies’ ability to fight infection. The researchers showed that targeting one of these genes – Spns2 – led to a 3/4 reduction in tumour metastasis.

Removal of the Spns2 gene caused the largest change, reducing ...

This March 2016 photo provided by the City of Hope hospital shows patient Richard Grady in Duarte, Calif. Suffering from a deadly brain cancer that had spread to his spine, a novel therapy, which helped his immune system attack his disease, shrank his tumors. Grady was the first person to get cells that were genetically modified to seek and kill cancer dripped through a tube into a space in the brain where spinal fluid is made, sending the cells down the path the cancer traveled to his spine. (City of Hope via AP)

A man with deadly brain cancer that had spread to his spine saw his tumors shrink and, for a time, completely vanish after a novel treatment to help his immune system attack his disease—another first in this promising field...

This diagram describes how the device Dr. Hood helped to develop is implanted into a cancerous tumor. Credit: Lyle Hood/UTSA

Medicine diffusion capsule could locally treat multiple ailments and diseases over several weeks. This new device that could revolutionize the delivery of medicine. “The problem with most drug-delivery systems is that you have a specific minimum dosage of medicine that you need to take for it to be effective,” Hood said. “There’s also a limit to how much of the drug can be present in your system so that it doesn’t make you sick.”

As a result of these limitations, a person who needs frequent doses of a specific medicine is required to take a pill every day or visit a doctor for injections. Hood’s creation negates the need for either of these approaches...