Gut bacteria can penetrate tumors and aid cancer therapy, study suggests

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and University of Chicago have discovered that bacteria that usually live in the gut can accumulate in tumors and improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy in mice. The study, which will be published March 6 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that treating cancer patients with Bifidobacteria might boost their response to CD47 immunotherapy, a wide-ranging anti-cancer treatment that is currently being evaluated in several clinical trials.

Pre-operative immunotherapy triggers encouraging response in oral cancers

A new clinical trial suggests that immunotherapy given before other treatments for oral cavity cancers can elicit an immune response that shrinks tumors, which could provide long-term benefit for patients. In the randomized trial, two neoadjuvant doses of nivolumab given with or without ipilimumab led to complete or partial tumor shrinkage in most cases and did not delay any patients from continuing on to standard treatment. Findings will be presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.

Radiation/immunotherapy combo shows promise for recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancers

A new phase II trial finds that a combination of radiation therapy and immunotherapy led to encouraging survival outcomes and acceptable toxicity for patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The combination of radiation and pembrolizumab may offer a new treatment option for patients who are ineligible for cisplatin chemotherapy, part of standard treatment for the disease. Findings will be presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.

Nanosize Device ‘Uncloaks’ Cancer Cells in Mice And Reveals Them to The Immune System

Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have designed and successfully tested an experimental, super small package able to deliver molecular signals that tag implanted human cancer cells in mice and make them visible for destruction by the animals’ immune systems. The new method was developed, say the researchers, to deliver an immune system “uncloaking” device directly to cancer cells.

Addition of Immunotherapy to Standard Treatment for Advanced Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer is Safe and Tolerable as First-Line Therapy

Research from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey shows administering the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab together with chemotherapy given at the same time as radiation treatment (chemoradiation) is safe and tolerable as a first-line therapy for patients with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Mayo researchers discover way to prime cancer tumors for immunotherapy

A cancer tumor’s ability to mutate allows it to escape from chemotherapy and other attempts to kill it. So, encouraging mutations would not be a logical path for cancer researchers. Yet a Mayo Clinic team and their collaborators took that counterintuitive approach and discovered that while it created resistance to chemotherapy, it also made tumors sensitive to immunotherapy. They also found that this approach worked successfully across tumor types and individual patient genomes. Their findings involving mouse models and human cells appear in Nature Communications.

CD19 CAR NK-cell therapy achieves 73% response rate in patients with leukemia and lymphoma

According to results from a Phase I/IIa trial at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, treatment with cord blood-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK)-cell therapy targeting CD19 resulted in clinical responses in a majority of patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), with no major toxicities observed.

Multimodal Genomic Analyses Predict Response to Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer Patients

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed an integrated genomic approach that potentially could help physicians predict which patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer will respond to therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Heterogeneity of Liver Cancer Cells Helps Explain Tumor Progression in Patients, Mount Sinai Research Found

Many liver cancer tumors contain a highly diverse set of cells, a phenomenon known as intra-tumor heterogeneity that can significantly affect the rate at which the cancer grows, Mount Sinai researchers report. The immune system’s contribution to this heterogeneity can have major clinical implications.

Study reveals a new approach to enhancing response to immunotherapy in melanoma

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have identified a new way to boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. The study used a mouse model to identify the importance of the Siah2 protein in the control of immune cells called T regulatory cells (Tregs), which limit the effectiveness of currently used immunotherapies. The research, which offers a new avenue to pursue immunotherapy in cases where the treatment fails, was published today in Nature Communications.

Researchers identify immune-suppressing target in glioblastoma

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified a tenacious subset of immune macrophages that thwart treatment of glioblastoma with anti-PD-1 checkpoint blockade, elevating a new potential target for treating the almost uniformly lethal brain tumor.

Researchers Identify Potential Formula for Blood Cancer Vaccine

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered a way to move precision immunotherapy forward by using genomics to inform immunotherapy for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, according to a study published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, in December.

Human Immune Monitoring Center at Mount Sinai to analyze the effectiveness of a novel cancer therapy drug

The Human Immune Monitoring Center (HIMC) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will apply cutting-edge high-throughput technologies to evaluate the therapeutic effects of Libtayo® (cemiplimab-rwlc), a PD-1 antibody blockade developed by biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc and Sanofi.

Updated Report on Trends in Global PD-1/PD-L1 Immunotherapy Clinical Development from the Cancer Research Institute Published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery

Latest analysis of the global PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy clinical development pipeline reveals dramatic growth over past two years in number of trials, drug combinations, and drug targets, but lower patient recruitment rates in the U.S. compared to China.

Moffitt Researchers Identify a Mechanism Controlling Tumor Cell Recognition by Immune Cells

Immunotherapy has become a standard treatment approach for several types of cancer, including melanoma. However, tumors can escape immune cell detection even with the use of immunotherapies. In a new study published in Cancer Immunology Research, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers, in collaboration with the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, describe a cellular mechanism that controls tumor cell recognition by immune cells.

Atlantic Health System Cancer Care Enrolling Patients in Innovative Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials

November is national Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month. This year alone, more than 56,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic tumors are particularly aggressive and hard to treat “due to a mutational profile that makes it resistant to therapies that work better for other tumor types,” explains Angela Alistar, MD, medical director of GI oncology at Morristown Medical Center. Dr. Alistar, an internationally known expert on pancreatic cancer, is now enrolling patients in five clinical trials aimed at pancreatic cancer.

CAR T Cell Clinical Trial for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Begins at Atlantic Health System

Atlantic Health System is treating patients in a new Phase 2 clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy at Morristown Medical Center. A select number of sites across the U.S. are involved in this study, which is done on an outpatient basis. The study is sponsored by Juno Therapeutics, Inc. The study’s principal investigator, Mohamad Cherry, MD, medical director of hematology for Atlantic Health System Cancer Care, is a nationally known expert at treating and researching blood-related cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia and myeloma. Dr. Cherry is triple board-certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology

Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, Elected to the National Academy of Medicine

Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, Chief of the Cell Therapy and Transplant Section in the Division of Oncology and Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, has been elected into the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), effective Oct. 1, 2019.

Seattle Children’s Building Cure Opens in Downtown Seattle to Accelerate Pediatric Research

Seattle Children’s today announced the opening of Building Cure™, a new 540,000 square-foot pediatric research facility located at Stewart Street and Terry Avenue in downtown Seattle’s biotech corridor. Building Cure is the latest step in Seattle Children’s quest to revolutionize pediatric medicine and improve the lives of children worldwide.

Yale Cancer Center researchers show adding radiation after immunotherapy improves survival time for patients with advanced lung cancer

The results of a phase II clinical trial by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers show adding high-dose radiation after immunotherapy stops working increases survival time for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Yale Cancer Center researchers show adding radiation after immunotherapy improves survival time for patients with advanced lung cancer

The results of a phase II clinical trial by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers show adding high-dose radiation after immunotherapy stops working increases survival time for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

$1.5M Awarded from ORIEN New Oncologic Visionary Awards Program Supports Research by Rutgers Cancer Institute Investigators

A pair of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey physician-scientists are collaborating on national research projects that received $1.5 million in combined funding from the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network® (ORIEN) New Oncologic Visionary Awards (NOVA) program.