A groundbreaking approach to cancer treatment discovered by Israeli researchers may soon allow tumors to expose themselves to the immune system, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of immunotherapy.
This strategy paves the way for the development of new cancer-fighting drugs while expanding immunotherapy possibilities for certain patients.
Scientists from the Weizmann Institute and Stanford University found a way to force tumors to produce abnormal proteins, making them visible to immune cells. In laboratory models, this new method triggered a robust immune response capable of destroying tumors and slowing their growth. The findings were recently published in the peer-reviewed Cancer Cell journal.
Immunotherapy enlists the immune system to fight tumors. However, fewer than 57 percent of cancer patients are currently candidates for immunotherapy, and only about 20 percent respond effectively. Cancer cells often evade detection by presenting very few identifiable markers. The Israeli researchers sought to change that.