Scientists Just Made a Major Discovery in Personalized Cancer Treatment
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.
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.
READ ALSO: New treatment fully restores memory function of Alzheimer Patients
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.
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Helena Marsh
Helena Marsh is the Editor-in-Chief at TrendinTech, where she leads editorial strategy and oversees coverage across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise technology. With more than a decade in technology journalism on both sides of the Atlantic, she previously served as a senior editor at Wired UK and covered the technology sector for The Guardian, following the rise of the big platforms, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the regulatory push from Brussels and Washington. Helena holds an MA in Journalism from City, University of London and is a regular speaker at Web Summit in Lisbon and CES in Las Vegas. She believes technology reporting should be rigorous and plainly written, so readers understand what actually changes for them rather than what a company's announcement promises.
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