The winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine tells SurvivorNet that the next big wave of research of ways to treat cancer is likely to involve combining immunotherapy with targeted drugs.
Dr. Jim Allison, Chair of the Department of Immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, talked about the effectiveness of combining immunotherapy as a complementary treatment to traditional “targeted” therapies like chemotherapy and radiation for many types of cancer. Simply put, he says: “We now know it works… and so it’s something out there that can offer patients a bit of hope.”
For decades, Dr. Allison has researched ways to harness the immune system to fight cancer. As the Nobel Committee said of Dr. Allison’s work, he has, “…established an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.”
That principle, Dr. Allison explains, is about allowing the body’s T-cells (an important part of the body’s natural immune system) to fight the cancerous tumors. “The one that I developed is called Checkpoint Therapy because…we identified these brakes on the immune system and figured out how to use those to keep T-cells that are in your body going and generate big numbers…of T-cells that’ll kill cancer cells.”
Further, continues Dr. Steven Rosenberg, Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute who did major pioneering work in immunotherapy in his own right beginning in the late 1970s, immunotherapy is gaining traction of late as a viable, effective addition to other cancer treatments. “In the last several years, there’s been an explosion of information that enables us to help larger numbers of patients by getting their body’s immune system to fight this disease,” he says.
Immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy is, indeed, offering new hope for people with more and more types of cancer. Specific drugs that have been shown to improve patient outlook include:
- Tecentriq, which, when used as a complementary treatment to chemotherapy in a study of 900 women with triple-negative breast cancer, extended the lives patients by as much as 9 1/2 months compared to patients who were treated with chemotherapy alone.
- Obdivo, which was shown to have a survival length of 10.6 months in first relapsed acute myeloid leukemia patients, which was double that of such patients being treated just with chemotherapy.
- Keytruda, which, when treating patients battling non-small cell lung cancer, produced a 69.2% survival rate at 12 months when used in combination with chemotherapy, compared to a survival rate of 49.4% at 12 months when patients were treated with chemotherapy alone.
In addition, breakthrough studies are being done with such methods to fight bladder cancer and melanoma—and the list goes on. It all spells exciting things to come as doctors and researchers continue to develop their understanding of the possibilities of this type of combination therapy, in which immunotherapies and traditional cancer treatments create a “doubly whammy,” as Dr. Allison puts it, of cancer-fighting power. And the possible benefits are so widespread because, he continues, while targeted therapies must be different for each type of cancer, immunotherapy doesn’t have to be tailored individually. “You’re not treating the cancer cell, you’re treating the immune system. So the cancer doesn’t really matter.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Dr. Jim Allison is the recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine. He is also the Chair of the Department of Immunology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Read More
The winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine tells SurvivorNet that the next big wave of research of ways to treat cancer is likely to involve combining immunotherapy with targeted drugs.
Dr. Jim Allison, Chair of the Department of Immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, talked about the effectiveness of combining immunotherapy as a complementary treatment to traditional “targeted” therapies like chemotherapy and radiation for many types of cancer. Simply put, he says: “We now know it works… and so it’s something out there that can offer patients a bit of hope.”
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For decades, Dr. Allison has researched ways to harness the immune system to fight cancer. As the Nobel Committee said of Dr. Allison’s work, he has, “…established an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.”
That principle, Dr. Allison explains, is about allowing the body’s T-cells (an important part of the body’s natural immune system) to fight the cancerous tumors. “The one that I developed is called Checkpoint Therapy because…we identified these brakes on the immune system and figured out how to use those to keep T-cells that are in your body going and generate big numbers…of T-cells that’ll kill cancer cells.”
Further, continues Dr. Steven Rosenberg, Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute who did major pioneering work in immunotherapy in his own right beginning in the late 1970s, immunotherapy is gaining traction of late as a viable, effective addition to other cancer treatments. “In the last several years, there’s been an explosion of information that enables us to help larger numbers of patients by getting their body’s immune system to fight this disease,” he says.
Immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy is, indeed, offering new hope for people with more and more types of cancer. Specific drugs that have been shown to improve patient outlook include:
- Tecentriq, which, when used as a complementary treatment to chemotherapy in a study of 900 women with triple-negative breast cancer, extended the lives patients by as much as 9 1/2 months compared to patients who were treated with chemotherapy alone.
- Obdivo, which was shown to have a survival length of 10.6 months in first relapsed acute myeloid leukemia patients, which was double that of such patients being treated just with chemotherapy.
- Keytruda, which, when treating patients battling non-small cell lung cancer, produced a 69.2% survival rate at 12 months when used in combination with chemotherapy, compared to a survival rate of 49.4% at 12 months when patients were treated with chemotherapy alone.
In addition, breakthrough studies are being done with such methods to fight bladder cancer and melanoma—and the list goes on. It all spells exciting things to come as doctors and researchers continue to develop their understanding of the possibilities of this type of combination therapy, in which immunotherapies and traditional cancer treatments create a “doubly whammy,” as Dr. Allison puts it, of cancer-fighting power. And the possible benefits are so widespread because, he continues, while targeted therapies must be different for each type of cancer, immunotherapy doesn’t have to be tailored individually. “You’re not treating the cancer cell, you’re treating the immune system. So the cancer doesn’t really matter.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Dr. Jim Allison is the recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine. He is also the Chair of the Department of Immunology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Read More
