Molecular Profiling of Melanoma Tumours Explains Differences in Survival After T Cell Therapy

Source: Alpha Galileo,  November 2017

The more times metastasised melanoma has mutated and the patient’s immune system has been activated against the tumour – the better the chances of survival after immunotherapy. This is what emerges from a research collaboration between Lund University in Sweden and Herlev university hospital in Denmark. The findings are now published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Using the body’s own immune system to combat tumours, an approach known as immunotherapy, has brought a major breakthrough in cancer care. Whereas we previously had no treatments able to increase survival for certain cancer diagnoses, it is now possible to treat advanced melanoma, for example.
One such immunotherapy method currently under clinical trial on patients with advanced melanoma is adoptive T cell therapy. The treatment is demanding both in terms of resources and for the patient, who needs to be in a condition to withstand it.