cancer immunotherapy, disease & medicine

Meet some of the people featured in the July/August 2020 issue of The Scientist.

This previously unknown mechanism for spotting foreign genetic material in the cytoplasm launches antiviral defenses even when the well-known immune mediator STING is absent.

The Oxford researcher’s work on lipid and peptide antigens revealed key mechanisms in inflammation, immunotherapy, and vaccination, which are being pursued in clinical trial treatments.

Research in mice and humans is beginning to establish a link between the composition of microbes in the gut and immune responses to tumor cells, but the mechanisms are not yet clear.

One person with multiple myeloma and one with sarcoma are the first so far to receive the genetically engineered T cells in the study.

At least a handful of patients have developed active TB after receiving cancer treatment designed to boost the immune system’s antitumor response.

The technology has wowed the field by all but obliterating some patients’ blood cancers, but solid malignancies present new challenges.

Tumor accessibility, heterogeneity, and microenvironment vary between the two classes of malignancies.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are generally most effective against tumors with more genetic mutations, according to a new study, although the relationship isn’t true for all cancers.

A case study of two patients with advanced cancer shows it might be possible to avoid a common and severe side effect of immunotherapy treatment.

Cancer treatments from Novartis and Gilead earn approval from EU regulators, but a first pass by the UK’s state-funded health service finds CAR T is too expensive. 

The promise of immunotherapy is real. We now need to figure out how to maximize the number of patients the approach benefits.