Immunotherapy: Scientists Discover Methods to Forecast Treatment Results
In the ever-evolving world of cancer treatments, scientists are constantly developing new methods to combat this deadly disease. One of the latest additions to the arsenal is immunotherapy, which utilizes the body's own immune system to fight cancer cells. However, not every person and cancer type can benefit from immunotherapy, leaving researchers in a constant quest to understand what makes immunotherapy effective.
Recently, researchers from Johns Hopkins University have made a significant breakthrough in this area. They've identified a specific subset of tumor mutations, called 'persistent mutations', that suggest how receptive a tumor will be to immunotherapy. This discovery could revolutionize the way doctors select patients for immunotherapy and predict treatment outcomes.
The team's research was published in the renowned journal Nature Medicine. These persistent mutations are always present in cancer cells and keep the cancer visible to the immune system, enhancing the immune system's ability to identify and attack cancer cells. This enhanced response is particularly useful in the context of immune checkpoint blockade, enabling the immune system to eliminate cancer cells carrying these persistent mutations over time, leading to long-term survival.
Doctors currently use the total number of mutations in a tumor, known as the tumor mutation burden (TMB), to estimate a tumor's responsiveness to immunotherapy. However, the Johns Hopkins researchers found that persistent mutations provide a more accurate indication of a tumor's response to immune checkpoint blockade compared to the overall TMB. These persistent mutations may help clinicians more accurately select patients for clinical trials of new immunotherapies or predict a patient's clinical outcome with standard-of-care immune checkpoint blockade.
In simple terms, immunotherapy is a treatment method that boosts the immune system to fight cancer. Typically, cancer cells develop mutations that allow them to evade the immune system. Immunotherapy provides the immune system with a boost, making it easier to detect and destroy cancer cells. There are several types of immunotherapy, including checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T cell therapy, and vaccine therapy.
Currently, immunotherapy is a treatment option for various cancers, including breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer. Researchers are exploring the potential of immunotherapy for other cancer types such as prostate, brain, and ovarian cancer.
This groundbreaking study offers hope for better cancer treatment, possibly leading to improved patient selection for immunotherapy and more accurate predictions of treatment outcomes. With further research, this could pave the way for a more targeted and effective approach to cancer treatment.
1) The discovery of persistent mutations by a Johns Hopkins University team has the potential to transform the way doctors select patients for immunotherapy, as these mutations could provide a more accurate indication of a tumor's response to immune checkpoint blockade compared to the overall tumor mutation burden (TMB).
2) The understanding of persistent mutations could lead to a more targeted and effective approach in cancer treatment, as these mutations, always present in cancer cells, keep the cancer visible to the immune system, enhancing the immune system's ability to identify and attack cancer cells, particularly useful in immune checkpoint blockade therapy.
3) In the realm of health-and-wellness and medical-conditions, the science behind immunotherapy is constantly evolving, with immunotherapies and treatments being developed and tested for various cancers like breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer, and researchers are now exploring the potential of immunotherapy for other cancer types such as prostate, brain, and ovarian cancer, with the goal of improving patient outcomes through a system that boosts the immune system to fight cancer cells.
