Immunotherapies for treating cancer have brought forward the biggest breakthroughs in medical research in many years. Many scientists and doctors have focused on this innovative area when treating patients and developing better ways to save lives.
Researchers from the United Kingdom told the United Press International (UPI) that, for many years, cancer has been treated through surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, which is often thought of as slicing, poisoning, or burning by some healthcare professionals.
"Immunotherapy is radically different," Bent Jakobsen, the chief scientific officer of Immunocore, told The Independent. "It doesn't do away with the other cancer treatments by any means, but it adds something to the arsenal that has one unique feature - it may have the potency to actually cure cancer."
The organization Immunocore has developed a new therapy that instigates T-cells to seek and stop invasive pathogens. The treatment focuses on cellular immunity. Instead of working with antibodies, this company targets T-cells specifically.
The immunotherapy works by using small protein molecules to specifically adhere to cancer cells on one end and to T-cells on the other side. The other great potential of this therapy is the ability to engineer the molecules to stick to any type of cancer.
"You can find any type of cell and any kind of target. This means the approach can in theory be used against any cancer, whether it is tumors of the prostate, breast, liver, or the pancreas," Jakobsen said.
News Medical reported that the study of the immune response to cancer has also been an important area of study for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based David H. Koch Institute. The clinical research and pharmaceutical industries have taken notice of promising results of early-stage clinical data from several cancer immunotherapies.
On June 14, 2013, the Koch Institute held a symposium titled “Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy.” More than 1,000 leading researchers and specialists met to discuss the impact of immunotherapy on their field and how to address the immune response with growing tumors.
At this point in time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two cancer immunotherapies, one for treating advanced melanoma and the second for treating prostate cancer. Additionally, the company Activaris has received FDA approval granting their cancer immunotherapy AV0113 orphan drug status for treating malignant glioma, an aggressive type of brain cancer. Along with these developments, ongoing research may bring more immune-based treatments for stomach, lung, and kidney cancers in the coming years. A major point that attendants of the symposium focused on was how to improve the function of T-cells, which compose the stronger part of the immune system and destroy tumors. Groundbreaking work with cancer vaccines are making headlines across the medical industry.
While many researchers use mouse models to show the capabilities of their immunotherapies, one scientist - Michael Graner, PhD, a CU Cancer Center investigator - used his very own dog to save its life through immuno-based treatment, according to the source Science 2.0.
The animal had lung cancer at age 12, specifically advanced bronchoalveolar adenocarcinoma. The prognosis was grim - Graner’s dog had only one month left to live. Instead of chemotherapy treatment, it was decided to attempt immunotherapy to save the dog’s life.
A 10-gram sample of the tumor enriched with a high amount of heat-shock proteins in chaperone-rich cell lysate (which show T-cells what to target) was made into a vaccine and administered to the animal. The dog was able to beat its prognosis and survive an additional year due to this immunotherapy.
Graner has submitted a proposal to the FDA to allow him to perform human clinical trials. He hopes to use this vaccine to treat patients who have brain cancer.
"It's one thing to treat mice in these fake systems and another to treat a naturally arising tumor that had a poor prognosis," Graner told the source, explaining how his animal model is different from others. "Star's [his dog] success may make it much easier for the FDA to approve similar treatment with human glioblastoma."
All of these stories show that immunotherapy has become an innovative and strong area of research that may save the lives of countless cancer patients in decades to come.
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