New medication offers promising treatment option for advanced melanoma patients
Source: Helsinki Times, February 2023
A new study conducted in Finland has discovered a new medication that could offer a new treatment option for patients with advanced melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. The medication, relatlimab, has been found to affect the immune system in a different way compared to other therapies that activate the immune system.
Typically, therapies have been designed to activate T cells to attack cancer cells.
However, the Finnish study revealed that patients who do not benefit from T cell activation therapies do not have the right kind of T cells to attack the cancer cells. The new therapy needs to utilize other parts of the immune system, such as the natural killer cells or NK cells, which help identify cancer cells that have evaded T cells.