How Scientists are Looking to Expand the Benefits of Immunotherapy

Published: March 22, 2018

In the past few years, scientists have opened a new chapter in cancer treatment with designer drugs that can mobilize the immune system against tumors.

Immunotherapy has shown impressive results in some patients with advanced lung cancer, melanoma, and a few other cancers — but it helps only a minority of people. To date, immunotherapy hasn’t been very effective against such cancers as breast, prostate, and pancreatic, and it’s also not yet possible to predict with any certainty whether an individual patient will benefit from immunotherapy treatment.