Posts by tag
immunotherapy
Study helps solve the puzzle of checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis
The immune reaction that occurs in the hearts of patients taking checkpoint inhibitors who develop immune checkpoint myocarditis may be distinct from the immune responses occurring in the tumours of these patients. The study, published in in Nature, 6 November,…
Rise in initiation of immunotherapy at the end of life
Immunotherapy is increasingly being initiated in the month prior to death in patients with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer, melanoma, and renal cell carcinoma. The US study, published in JAMA Oncology, online January 4, showed the practice was more common…
Combination immunotherapy with novel immune-oncology agents benefit NSCLC patients in presurgical setting
Patients with resectable non-small-cell lung cancer show improved major pathological response rates with combination immune oncology agents versus single-agent immunotherapy. The NeoCOAST trial, published in Cancer Discovery, 14 September, demonstrated that combining the anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody durvalumab with other novel…
Cracking RAS: It took over 30 years to hit this ubiquitous oncogene – was it worth the wait?
RAS oncogenes and their proteins have central roles in almost all cancers, including leukaemias, multiple myelomas, skin cancers and many solid tumours, making the RAS protein family an ideal cancer target. But efforts to develop clinically efficacious drugs to target…
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…