The Most Groundbreaking Cancer Research of 2017

Advances in immunotherapy

Among the completely reassuring things scientists wish you knew about cancer is the research that’s being done to eradicate the disease, in which abnormal cells multiply and take over in the body. Last year there were over 1,685,000 cases of cancer diagnosed, and nearly 600,000 people died. Standard therapies so far are surgery, radiation to kill the cells, and chemotherapy, which alters the DNA of cancer cells to stop them from reproducing. But radiation and chemo damage healthy cells too, so researchers have been looking for better treatments. New immunotherapy drugs use the patient’s own immune cells to attack cancer. Stephen Hunger, MD, chief of the Division of Oncology, chief of the Division of Pediatric Oncology, and director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, tells us about two of the exciting immunotherapy treatments approved this year: “Inotuzumab uses an antibody to recognize leukemia cells and deliver a toxin selectively to these cells, thereby killing them with many fewer side effects than seen with standard chemotherapy drugs,” Dr. Hunger says. Another effective new therapy is a drug called blinatumomab. “This drug essentially acts as a link to bring T-cells into contact with malignant B-cells, enabling them to kill the leukemia cells,” he says.

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