Immunotherapy

Cancer patients are at high risk for severe COVID-19, making extra vaccine doses important. This study assessed their effectiveness using real-world data. In the monovalent booster period (up to August 2022), an additional dose reduced hospitalizations (29.2% effectiveness), with rates of 30.5 per 1,000 person-years in boosted patients compared to 41.9 in those with only […]

“Researchers are advancing cancer therapy with innovative immunotherapies and precision approaches. At the University of California, Irvine, GlyTR compounds act like “Velcro,” binding cancer-specific glycans on tumor cells to kill multiple cancer types—including breast, colon, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate—while sparing healthy tissue, overcoming limitations of current immunotherapies in solid tumors. Gene-editing is enhancing CAR T-cell

Next-generation cancer vaccines are revolutionizing oncology by combining personalized design, mRNA technology, and artificial intelligence (AI). Unlike traditional vaccines that target a single common antigen, these vaccines are tailored to each patient’s tumor, addressing the challenge of tumor heterogeneity and improving treatment specificity. The process begins with tumor sequencing to identify unique mutations called neoantigens.

USC biomedical engineers have created “EchoBack CAR T-cells,” smart immune cells that fight cancer up to five times longer than traditional CAR T-cells. This innovation could transform immunotherapy for solid tumors. These cells are activated by a brief ultrasound pulse at the tumor site and continue working for at least five days compared to just

A new personalized mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer is showing encouraging results in early clinical trials, offering hope against this highly lethal disease. The vaccine trains the immune system to recognize tumor-specific mutations, activating long-lasting T cells that persisted for nearly four years and reduced recurrence rates in responding patients, even during chemotherapy. Each vaccine

CAR-T cell therapy is a personalized immunotherapy that reprograms a patient’s T-cells to recognize and attack cancer. It has transformed treatment for certain blood cancers, providing hope for long-term remission in patients who have not responded to other therapies. The process begins with T-cell collection from the patient’s blood, followed by genetic modification in the

RNA-based cancer vaccines are rapidly advancing, showing real clinical impact across multiple cancer types. Personalized mRNA vaccines for melanoma, combined with pembrolizumab, reduced recurrence or death risk by 44% compared to pembrolizumab alone. In pancreatic cancer, mRNA vaccines generated long-lasting T-cell responses in half of patients, persisting up to four years. At the University of

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form lacking estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors, which historically limited treatment to chemotherapy. Recent advances in immunotherapy have transformed care, especially because TNBC tumors are often more immunogenic, with higher levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and PD-L1 expression that make them responsive to immune-targeting treatments. Checkpoint inhibitors are the

Ovarian cancer is hard to treat, with high rates of recurrence and resistance to standard therapies like platinum-based chemotherapy. A new immunotherapy, PHST001, developed by Pheast Therapeutics, offers hope. It is a macrophage checkpoint inhibitor and has received Fast Track designation from the FDA for advanced ovarian cancer. Unlike most immunotherapies that target T cells, PHST001 focuses

Lung cancer immunotherapy is rapidly evolving beyond traditional checkpoint inhibitors to overcome resistance and treat more patients. New approaches focus on directly engaging immune cells and targeting multiple tumor pathways, improving effectiveness in both small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. A major breakthrough is tarlatamab, the first BiTE approved for a solid tumor, which