In this special series, Medical News Bulletin dives deep into immunotherapy and how it has changed the face of cancer treatments. Find out what it is, how it works, where it’s used and why it’s such a powerful tool.
Repurposing BCG for Bladder Cancer: How the TB Vaccine Changed the Face of Cancer Treatments
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is a vaccine historically used to prevent tuberculosis (TB), but it is now being used to fight against bladder cancer. How does it work, and how has it been repurposed to treat such a different condition? What is Bacillus Calmette-Guerin? Bacillus Calmette-Guerin is a live attenuated vaccine, containing a weakened form of […]
Finding a Better Way to Treat Melanoma
Scientists are exploring a new treatment approach for patients with early-stage melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.1 Doctors hope that by applying anti-cancer drugs directly into the tumor site, they can cut toxic side effects and improve cancer recurrence rates. Currently, the way melanoma-targeting immunotherapy drugs are administered to patients causes whole-body side […]
Personalized Cancer Vaccines
Breakthrough research could mean personalized cancer vaccines become a reality. Melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer, arises from the continuous growth of pigment-producing skin cells. With stage IV having a five-year survival rate of 16.2%, effective treatments are needed promptly. Conventional treatment supplemented with a personalized, anti-melanoma vaccine showed great promise in a recent […]
How does Immunotherapy Work?
Immunotherapy is a medical treatment that manipulates the immune system to benefit the patient. The immune system is the frontline defense against illness and infection, but in some instances, it can become too weak or dangerously hyperactive. Scientists first launched the idea of immunotherapy to reduce the symptoms of diseases impacting the immune system. Immunotherapy […]
The future of immunotherapy for glioblastoma
Researchers test a new method of administering immunotherapy, in the hopes of overcoming existing barriers to immunotherapy for glioblastoma. Glioblastoma, the most common type of brain cancer, is considered one of the most aggressive forms of human cancer. The survival period for patients diagnosed and treated for glioblastoma averages at only 14 months. Though treatment […]
Why is immunotherapy for breast cancer not as effective?
A recent study investigated why immunotherapy for breast cancer is not as effective as a cancer treatment. Despite the recent advancements in immunotherapy and the new era of personalized medicine to treat different forms of cancer, breast cancer has proven to be a difficult opponent for this new therapy. Previous trials have shown that immunotherapy […]
New approaches to cancer immunotherapy
Past methods for antitumor therapies have focused on enhancing systemic immune activity. Yale University researchers have highlighted developments in a more recent approach to cancer immunotherapy that may result in more effective treatments. Since its inception, cancer research has largely been based on the premise of enhancement therapies: immune system boosting treatments that increase […]
Promising results in immunotherapy trial for aggressive metastatic breast cancer
At the ESMO 2018 Congress, researchers reported promising results from an immunotherapy trial in patients with aggressive metastatic breast cancer. According to the World Cancer Research Fund statistics, breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women, with over two million new cases in 2018. There are many different types of breast cancer. Identifying […]
