At the UCL, University College London, scientists came too close to discovering the ultimate cancer immunotherapy treatment.
The popularity of cancer immunotherapy treatment rose in the past few years when a couple of companies made their drugs. Good examples include Bristo-Myers Squibb -0.45% (made Opdivo) and Merck MRK -0.04% (made Keytruda). The latter healed Jimmy Carter’s cancer towards the end of last year.
One thing that makes immune-oncology drugs better than chemotherapy is that they direct the patient’s immune cells (T-cells) to aim categorically and damage cancerous cells. However, these cures are not always accurate enough to destroy all types of cancers. This is simply because cancer cells are very different, and their mutations can change as the disease advances.
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Funded partly by the Cancer Research UK, the scientists claim that they have found a method of identifying antigens on tumors. These antigens are normally in cancer cells regardless of whether they are mutated. From a set of patients, researchers found immune responsive cells that could identify and aim at the antigens.
Their cancer immune-oncology will work as a match where a patient’s cancer cells will be fought by their T-cells.
Before this brilliant discovery is utilized, so that new cures are developed, a lot of work must be done. Being a tailor-made method of curing cancer, it is very expensive, which is a major concern.
So far Novartis NVS -1.03% and Juno 7.47% are working on their own T-cell based immunotherapy methods. This entails removing a sick person’s immune cells and re-constructing them to be potent cancer fighters. But this has only worked for people with blood cancers.
