It has been more than 100 years since Dr. William B. Coley, known today as the “Father of Immunotherapy,” made the first recorded attempt to mobilize the immune system as a means of treating cancer (9). Decades later, the discovery of T cells and the vital role they play in the immune system set the groundwork for many new immunotherapy treatments, such as those involving monoclonal antibodies, cytokines, CAR T cells, and checkpoint inhibitors.
Continue reading “Cancer Preventing Vaccines: Unleashing the Potential of Tumor Antigens”
In recent years, great advances have been made in the field of immunotherapy to treat cancer. One of the most promising treatments involves engineering immune cells to express chimeric antigen receptors (CAR). These receptors are carefully designed to recognize antigens expressed on the surface of tumor cells. Once the target is recognized, the CAR-engineered immune cells can attack and kill the tumor cells. CAR T cells have been successfully used to treat certain blood cancers—three CAR T therapies for lymphoma and leukemia have gained US FDA approval. In these cases, T cells were taken from individual patients, grown and genetically-altered in the lab, then reintroduced into the same patient. 