An approach to immunotherapy by combining it with stem-cell transplantation, which researchers called "immunotransplant" was done. This allows for better treatment of non-Hodgins' lymphoma and other cancers like melanoma and lung cancer.
Mount Sinai researchers have developed a way to use immunotherapy drugs against treatment-resistant non-Hodgkin's lymphomas for the first time by combining them with stem cell transplantation, an approach that also dramatically increased the success of the drugs in melanoma and lung cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Discovery in August.
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‘The cancer-killing immune response was increased tenfold when immunotherapy was combined with stem-cell transplantation. Such therapy works for treatment-resistant lymphoma.’
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This type of immunotherapy, called "checkpoint blockade," ramps up the ability of immune cells called T cells to fight cancer by removing the "cloaking effect" that tumors use to hide from them. Checkpoint blockade therapy is effective in several tumor types, but generally ineffective in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. However, the study found that when this immunotherapy is combined with a stem cell transplant, which the researchers call "immunotransplant," the process ramps up the T cells to increase the cancer-killing immune response tenfold, allowing it to be effective for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and more successful for melanoma and lung cancer.
The transplant works by "making space" for re-infused immune cells (T cells) to proliferate by clearing out a patient's original immune system. While they are proliferating and building the immune system back up, they become activated, and the anti-tumor T cells' anticancer effect becomes stronger.
![Immunotherapy Works for Resistant Bowel Cancer: Study]( "Immunotherapy Works for Resistant Bowel Cancer: Study")
Cetuximab works well for bowel cancer people, but, most will eventually stop responding. New ways to treat them should be found out.
The findings have prompted the initiation of a clinical trial using the immunotransplant approach to treat patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03305445), which began enrolling patients in May. They also could eventually lead to effective therapies for other cancer types.
"Using immunotransplant to enhance the efficacy of checkpoint blockade therapy could be broadly significant as these immunotherapies are a standard therapy for melanoma, kidney cancer, lung cancer, and others," said the study's corresponding author Joshua Brody, MD, Director of the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. "Even for settings in which checkpoint blockade therapy proves ineffective, our data suggest that its efficacy may be 'rescued' by immunotransplant. This research also suggests that the addition of checkpoint blockade may improve other T cell therapies, such as CAR-T therapy."
Investigators based their findings in the study on their observation of how the immune system responded to bone marrow transplants, T cell therapy, immunotherapy, and immunotransplant in patients and mouse models.
Source: Eurekalert
Immunotherapy Works for Resistant Bowel Cancer: Study
Cetuximab works well for bowel cancer people, but, most will eventually stop responding. New ways to treat them should be found out.
Advertisement
The findings have prompted the initiation of a clinical trial using the immunotransplant approach to treat patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03305445), which began enrolling patients in May. They also could eventually lead to effective therapies for other cancer types.
"Using immunotransplant to enhance the efficacy of checkpoint blockade therapy could be broadly significant as these immunotherapies are a standard therapy for melanoma, kidney cancer, lung cancer, and others," said the study's corresponding author Joshua Brody, MD, Director of the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. "Even for settings in which checkpoint blockade therapy proves ineffective, our data suggest that its efficacy may be 'rescued' by immunotransplant. This research also suggests that the addition of checkpoint blockade may improve other T cell therapies, such as CAR-T therapy."
Investigators based their findings in the study on their observation of how the immune system responded to bone marrow transplants, T cell therapy, immunotherapy, and immunotransplant in patients and mouse models.
Source: Eurekalert
Immunotherapy Drug Appears Safe for Cancer Patients With HIV
Patients living with HIV and a deadly cancer could be safely treated with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab.
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New Target to Enhance Response to Cancer Immunotherapy IdentifiedNew findings suggest an unexpected path to killing cancer cells could make the hottest cancer treatment, immunotherapy, more effective. | Advertisement
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