The Most Promising New Cancer Treatment

A key factor in the development of tumors is the ability of cancerous cells to evade recognition from the bodies’ natural defense against cancer, the immune system. Immunotherapies effectively block the pathways that shield cancerous cells from being identified, and thus the promote the bodies own anti-tumor response. However, one challenge to immunotherapy has been its combination with chemotherapy, the mainstay of cancer treatment. While chemotherapy is extremely effective in stopping the rapid division of cancerous cells, its toxic immunosuppressive side-effect make it difficult to combine with

If you or your loved one has a cancer diagnosis, you want to find the best treatment possible. Understandably, this can be overwhelming. The good news is treatments and technologies advance quickly. When researching treatment options, you'll want the most accurate and recent knowledge. To help, we've compiled information about the latest cancer treatments in greater Baltimore so you can make informed decisions and find the expert care you and your family deserve.

In this issue of Lancet Oncology, Dr. Antonia and colleagues report on the combination of durvalumab and tremelimumab in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).1 After the recent approvals of nivolumab and pembrolizumab in NSCLC,2, 3, 4 there is a near frenzy of attempts to combine agents with inhibitors of the PD-1 immune checkpoint. Some efforts are based on only the shakiest of scientific evidence. However, the combination of durvalumab, a PD-L1 inhibitor, and tremelimumab, a CTLA-4 inhibitor, has a sound scientific basis. Dual checkpoint inhibition is now an established treatment option for patients with advanced melanoma.5, 6

The Onyx-015 is an oncolytic adenovirus that is similar to the H101 virus. The Onyx-015 is also used to treat head and neck cancers along with chemotherapy. This virus has been created in the US but has yet to be regulated by the government. During the trial period of the virus, there were 22 patients admitted into the trial that had head and neck cancers. In order to be admitted into the trial there were some conditions that had to be met. These conditions consists of, the life expectancy of the patient had to be 3 months, over the age of 18 years and have a Karnofsky performance greater than 60% [11]. The Karnofsky performance is a scale that states the health of a patient. In this case a performance greater than 60% indicates that they are able to care for themselves or may require occasional assistance [12]. Another important condition is that the tumor had to be in an area where there can be direct injections.

Some of traditional drugs may be effective in patients whose cancers have a specific molecular target, and not for other patients. To solve this problem of patient-specificity, pharmaceutical research have seen the expansion of individually tailored cancer treatment, which is an application of targeted therapy, and this is where biopharmaceuticals are. As an increasing part of the population is diagnosed with cancer and as these patients live longer, increasing care will be given to patients who have received these drugs. Moreover, in the case of cancer therapy, those drugs and especially with mABs are a promise of less side effects : recombinant DNA technology makes it possible to genetically engineer an antibody to reduce the risk of host immune response.

Many doctors, physicians, researchers and biotech companies--including the revolutionary Seattle Genetics research facility--are now turning to antibody-assisted cancer treatments and precisely targeted cures instead of treating cancer with a cocktail of chemicals and radiation that generate risky side effects and damage the healthy tissue that patients need to recover. Cancers are among the most frightening and difficult-to-treat illnesses. Ranked as the leading cause of death and disability, cancer is actually an umbrella term that covers many different diseases. Each person faces a unique disease because cancers interact with the body's existing cells, so each case has a

Since both compounds are effective against different cells in the body, the researchers believe that when combined, the effect will be greater when treating early-stage melanoma patients. In this experiment, a way to strengthen the immune defenses against metastatic events was being tested. When the melanoma sentinel lymph nodes have an impaired function, early metastatic events are possible. In recent studies, it has been discovered that melanoma is able to evade and suppress a victim’s immune system. When this suppression occurs, the system is tolerant of melanoma-associated antigens. Due to this tolerance to MAA, the immune effector functions in the sentinel lymph nodes are impaired, which contributes to the early metastatic events that occur because of the melanoma. In order to observe how the SLN’s immune functions are working, the researchers sampled viable immune effector cells using a previously reported technique that did not interrupt the standardized diagnostic

The mask that most melanoma cells use is a protein ligand called PD-L1. Located on the surface of immune cells, called T cells, the receptor, and also a checkpoint protein, for PD-L1 is PD-1. When tumorigenesis occurs, cancerous cells produce mutant antigens, which following detection by dendritic cells in the body, cause the activation of cytotoxic (killer) T cells. What should happen is that these immune cells infiltrate the tumour, recognise and bind to cancerous cells, inducing apoptosis – this is the ‘cancer immunity cycle’ (figure 4). In avoidance of reducing the amount of autoimmune damage caused, by T cells attacking normal cells close to the tumour, immune cells rely on what’s called the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. This is the basis of

The established definition of rituximab resistance is the lack of response or the progression within 6 months of treatment to a rituximab-containing regimen.11 Continued disease progression during rituximab therapy is the most clearly defined form of resistance. Patients who experience tumor shrinkage may have some degree of rituximab sensitivity but can still be classified as “resistant” if they fail to achieve either a partial or complete response. Numerous pathways of tumor resistance have been elucidated with conventional chemotherapeutic agents. In some cases, these discoveries have translated into specific interventions intended to prevent or overcome tumor resistance.11 Surprisingly, little is known about the determinants of responsiveness and resistance to rituximab in the treatment of B-cell NHL.11 The exact mechanism(s) of rituximab’s action in patients, either as a single drug or in combination

In "A Problem with How We Treat Cancer and How to Fix it,” Cindy Finch, the clinical social worker, argues that after being diagnosed with cancer five years ago, she could recover from the disease but not from her emotional condition. When she was recurring her medical visits, she noticed that doctors and hospitals are focus on the equipment, and medical resources that help people to survive their diagnosis, but they do not worry about the post-traumatic and emotional support for life after cancer. Finch, suggest that to optimize cancer recovery, medical community must integrate and turn psycho-social healthcare in a new phase of cancer treatment. Using help from a survivor specialist that assist and tech patients and their family, to find

The first thing we will want to review is the mechanism of action: Nivolumab is an inhibitory ligand-blocking antibody against the programmed death receptor. In contrast to traditional chemotherapies and targeted anti-cancer therapies, which exert their effects by direct cytotoxic or tumor growth inhibition, nivolumab acts by blocking a negative regulator of T-cell activation and response thus allowing the immune system to attack the tumor.[5][6] This is an example of immune checkpoint blockade. The indications of nivolumab is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy . There are a few cautions that need to be addressed immune-mediated pneumonitis, melanoma, immune mediated colitis, hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction just to name a few. Immune-mediated colitis reported; withhold for moderate or severe and permanently discontinue for life-threatening colitis. Immune-mediated hepatitis observed in clinical trials; monitor for changes in liver function; withhold for moderate and permanently discontinue for severe or life-threatening transaminase or total bilirubin elevation. Immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction may occur; monitor for changes in renal function; withhold for moderate and permanently discontinue for severe or life-threatening serum creatinine elevation. Immune-mediated hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism reported; monitor for changes in thyroid function and initiate thyroid hormone replacement as needed. Other clinically significant immune-mediated adverse reactions (eg, rash, encephalitis) can occur after therapy discontinuation. Severe infusion reactions reported (rare, <1%); discontinue if severe or life threatening, interrupt or slow infusion rate if mild or moderate reaction. It can

Lymphoma is a cancer that starts in our cells and affects our immune system (“Lymphoma”). The natural killer cells in our bodies, also known as NK cells, can fight off the malignant lymphoma cells for our immune system. They are an important part of our immune system because they allow immunity of dangerous and altered structures. The only problem is, they lose their effect once they are within the vicinity of the tumor itself. With belief that natural killer cells are very therapeutic to killing lymphoma cells, scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen have discovered a way to fix this.

As the world continues to suffer from these devastating diseases, researchers continue to find alternative therapeutic ways of addressing cancer treatment. It is on this premise that various immunotherapeutic alternatives have emerged and currently garnering the greatest level of attention and already raising hope throughout the world in addressing the treatment of NSCLC. However, this can no longer be viewed as a discovery but a wave in the medicine world that began in the 20th century. Various researchers have found the importance of the role of immune systems in fighting the growth of tumor caused by cancer cells. A study by Huncharek (2000) stated that specific immune boosters are capable of eliminating preclinical cancers. In contrast, Jermal et al. (2011) found that immunotherapy is an effective approach for the treatment of tumors that have already turned into solid. Similarly, the researchers highlighted that immunotherapy can be an effective approach to the treatment of melanoma as well as renal cell cancers (Lasalvia-Prisco, 2008). However, Jemal et al. (2011) noted that immunotherapy cannot achieve much in cancer treatment due to limitation brought about by the emission of immunosuppressive cytokines and subsequent loss of antigen expressions. Recent development in research studies on the immunotherapy approach to cancer treatment continues to elicit mixed reactions among researchers of medicinal ecology (Jadad et al., 1996). However, recent development in

This original research focuses on defining cancer immunotherapy and the different types of immunotherapy that has received regulatory approval within the past twenty-five years. Cancer immunotherapy also known as biotherapy is "the manipulation of the immune system, or utilization of components of the immune system, as the cancer treatment." After a brief history of immunotherapy and the foundation of its origin is given in the introduction Dillman goes into detail about the different types of immunotherapies. The different types of immunotherapies include nonspecific immune stimulants Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and Levamisole which are drugs used to boost the immune system in a general way. Cytokines are the messengers of the immune system; interferon-a and interleukin-2 are cytokines used to mediate and regulate immune responses, inflammation, and hematopoiesis which is new blood cell formation.

In 2011, Murray was first given a peptide-based vaccine and a monoclonal antibody called nivolumab. Nivolumab targets the programmed cell death protein 1 displayed on the surface of T-cells, a type of lymphocyte white blood cell. PD-1 works as a signal receptor on activated T-cells that packs down T-cell activity after detecting its counterpart, PD-L1 on the surface of tumor cells. The nivolumab was intended to block PD-L1 and allow Murray’s T-cells to fight cancer.