Scientists at the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) have solved a long-standing mystery in cancer treatment: how tumor cells die in different ways following radiotherapy. Their findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, reveal that some forms of cell death in cancer cells go unnoticed by the immune system while others…

A molecular platform for reprogramming immune responses has been designed by researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Stanford University. TRACeR-I can be used to develop cancer treatments by either directly modifying immune cells, such as T cells, or by creating proteins that help immune cells locate cancer…

A recent study by researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has shown that a combination of the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab and chemotherapy may improve survival outcomes for patients with small cell bladder cancer (SCBC) and small cell/neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). The research, published in Cell Reports…

Investigators at Stanford University have discovered the role of cell stiffness and the chemical makeup of pancreatic cancer tissue has in its resistance to chemotherapy. The research, published in Nature Materials, suggests that treatment resistance can be reversed and has uncovered new potential therapeutic targets to do this. “We found…

Two studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine have shown that although the risk for secondary T-cell lymphoma is low after CAR T cell therapy, it is not nonexistent, and clinicians should be aware that patients may be susceptible to this outcome. CAR T cell therapy is an…

Researchers at the University College London (UCL) and UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health have developed a novel immunotherapeutic platform technology that uses engineered T cells to attack bone cancer cells and activate other cancer-fighting immune cells to do the same.  The researchers aimed to overcome different challenges…

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania report a variant of the p53 protein may improve the effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. The findings are published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and led by Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in…

A new study uncovers why natural killer (NK) cells stop actively attacking tumor cells once they infiltrate cancers and possibly offers a way to boost their activity. The researchers, from the University of Birmingham and the University of Cambridge, found evidence of why NK cells adopt a dormant state when…

Researchers from the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have published new research in the journal JAMA Oncology demonstrating that chemotherapy plus high doses of radiation are a safe and effective treatment for people with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is not suitable for surgery. The Jonsson…

A rare type of T immune cell can help predict which patients may benefit most from cancer immunotherapies, a new study has found. The study was published in Nature Cancer and led by researchers from King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Trust, and the Francis Crick Institute. “Checkpoint inhibition (CPI),…

New research reveals that an important priming phase makes breast cancer cells previously exposed to sublethal drug concentrations refractory to higher doses.  Using spatiotemporal modeling, a University of Ottawa (uOttawa) team found, specifically, that chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer cells throughout the cellular concentration gradient have higher expression of the solute carriers…

Studies from Emory University reveal how treatment with chemotherapy may awaken breast cancer cells from dormancy and trigger renewed growth. The research describes the mechanisms involved—the release of two cell-signaling cytokines—and how blocking these targets prevented awakening from dormancy. The findings published in PLOS Biology show for the first time…

The location of cytotoxic T cells, in and around tumors, may help predict lung cancer patient survival and treatment response, according to work from University of Edinburgh researchers. Their findings, they say, could help to pave the way for improved immunotherapies. Such treatments are revolutionary in their ability to cure…

New research by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory demonstrates differentiation therapy as a new treatment option for Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a rare type of cancer that forms in soft tissue. RMS can occur at any age, but it most often affects children. Treatment usually involves chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation procedures.…

Etcembly, a U.K. biotech, has developed a new immunotherapy to target hard-to-treat cancers using generative artificial intelligence (AI) similar to that used to create ChatGPT. According to the company, this is the first time a candidate immunotherapy has been designed by generative AI. The new therapeutic candidate is a bispecific…