Posts by tag
immunotherapy
Immunotherapy: outcomes of ultra low-dose trial offer hope for better global access
Doctors at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai have shown that an ultra-low dose of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab significantly improves survival in patients with recurrent or newly diagnosed head and neck cancers. The findings of the single-centre phase III…
Nanotechnology is steadily expanding its many roles in tackling cancer
A nanomedicine, as defined by the US National Institutes of Health, is a “highly specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing damaged tissues... ” For regulatory purposes, the term covers products with a size between…
Cancer and the immune system: turning insights into treatments
The vision of harnessing our immune systems to fight cancer has been tantalising scientists and doctors for more than a century. The idea had a strong scientific rationale: over millions of years our immune systems have evolved intricate and multi-layered…
Study paves way for better checkpoint inhibitor response prognostication
Use of whole exome sequencing improves prediction of response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). The study, published in Nature Communications, 8 July, shows incorporation of the CIRCLE tool, including new genes and pathways identified from whole exome sequencing, leads to…
What can we expect from mRNA cancer vaccines?
Messenger RNA vaccines turned around Europe’s fight against the Covid pandemic. Less than a year after the first lockdowns were declared, mRNA vaccines got regulatory approval for emergency use, first in people at high-risk from Covid, and later in the…
Harmful bacteria play greater role in predicting outcomes of immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma
Harmful gut bacteria may play a greater role than beneficial bacteria in determining efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma patients. The study, published in Nature Medicine (28 February), found microbial signatures containing Lachnospiraceae species were connected to favourable anti-programmed…
High-fibre diets associated with improved melanoma immunotherapy response
Melanoma patients eating greater quantities of fibre-rich foods at the start of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy survive longer than patients with insufficient dietary fibre intake. The observational study, published in Science (23 December 2021), reports benefits to be most noticeable among…
Tackling drug resistance: how our commensal bacteria can hinder or help
Response to therapeutics can differ widely from patient to patient, with some gaining highly significant survival benefits from a therapy that in others elicits no response at all. Patients who respond initially often develop resistance or relapse over time. Not…
Antihistamines could improve efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors
Over-the-counter antihistamines appear to improve outcomes for cancer patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors. The study, reported in Cancer Cell (published online 24 November), found that melanoma and lung cancer patients taking antihistamines targeting the H1 receptor during anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatment achieved…
Woman or man? Is precision medicine overlooking key biological differences?
“Something that hit me pretty early during my residency as an oncologist was that sex in most cases is a clear-cut binary, pretty obvious biological variable affecting attitudes as well as tolerance to cancer treatment that we still rarely ‒…