A Chicago-based center that has long operated a clinical trial program for stem cell therapies, has stopped recruiting further patients as its chief, Richard Burt, leaves for a research sabbatical.

Injecting immunostimulants directly into the tumor is not a new strategy to stimulate the immune system, but the approach has seen a surge of interest in recent years.

Comparing the cells of cancer patients who did and did not respond to the immunotherapy could reveal biomarkers to predict who should receive it in the first place.

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.

The cells, derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, are in testing as an immunotherapy for cancer patients with solid tumors.

Although the oral treatment seems to work, an analysis of the results from 12 clinical trials finds kids who got an immunotherapy have a greater rate of serious reactions.

An early-stage clinical study finds that none of the 25 patients treated developed neurotoxicity or cytokine release syndrome, common hazards of the cancer immunotherapy.

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.