Immunotherapy is undoubtedly the most important breakthrough in the search for a cure for cancer in the last decade. And great progress is still being made.
Dutch professor Christian Blank explains how it works at HLN. “Immunotherapy does not directly target tumor cells, but activates and stimulates the body’s own immune cells to tackle tumor cells,” says research leader at Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. “This therapy has great advantages. Most patients say they tolerate immunotherapy better than chemotherapy. And an important difference compared to the past is that initially mainly patients who had completed treatment received immunotherapy. Now it is also used against early-stage cancer, usually before surgery.”
An interesting finding is that stress counteracts treatment. “Of the 88 patients, 28 said they experienced an extraordinary level of stress before treatment. They also responded less well to therapy. The disease recurred more often over the next two years than the other patients. Further research will be needed to show which Exactly what role stress plays in this. In any case, our results are in line with an international study showing that melanoma patients who use cardiac beta-blockers respond better to immunotherapy. Beta-blockers inhibit stress .excellent news, because there are cheap drugs.”
The researcher also knows that there is still much to do. “Yes, many questions still need to be answered, but we must not forget that we have already achieved a lot with immunotherapy in the last ten to fifteen years. We have now been able to demonstrate the enormous benefits in melanoma. I think we will see great progress in the near future. Immunotherapy does not work for all forms of cancer, but I am convinced that in ten or twenty years it will. New engineered cells capable of fighting all tumors will be developed. This is something to be proud of,” Blank said.
Bron(ne): HLN
2024-01-22 17:50:25
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