Immunotherapy

A second intratumoral cancer therapy has won FDA approval, reviving interest in a strategy with a history of disappointing trials. Can injecting tumors improve outcomes?

Colorectal cancer has become the leading cause of cancer-related death for people under 50. Its most common forms generally aren't treatable, either through conventional means like chemotherapy or newer immunotherapy drugs.

A short course of immunotherapy before surgery may offer remarkably durable protection for some patients with stage two or three bowel cancer. In the NEOPRISM-CRC trial, 32 patients with a specific genetic form of bowel cancer received pembrolizumab for up to nine weeks before surgery instead of the usual post-surgery chemotherapy. After nearly three years of follow-up, none of the patients had experienced a cancer recurrence, including those who still had small traces of disease after treatment.

Solid tumors are not merely collections of malignant cells but complex ecosystems comprising tumor cells, stromal cells, and the extracellular matrix (ECM).

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have identified a combination treatment that overcomes two of the biggest barriers to immunotherapy in glioblastoma.

In patients with severe peanut allergy, adding abatacept to oral immunotherapy does not significantly suppress the increase in peanut-specific IgE levels, but anaphylaxis may occur less often.

The primary composite endpoint of a visual and a pathologic response across all treated lesions was met in 61% of patients treated in the SPOTLIGHT-204 trial.

The study shows better survival when nivolumab was added to radiotherapy in patients with early-stage NSCLC.

Cancer neoantigens and neoantigen-specific T cells were identified from patient blood samples by analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and immune cells, respectively, and they largely matched those found through traditional tumor tissue biopsy in many patients.

Many liver and lung cancers arise in tissue that's already been scarred by chronic disease, such as hepatitis, cirrhosis or long-term lung damage. That scarring creates an environment that suppresses nearby immune cells, so by the time a tumor takes hold, it's often already shielded from the immune system and immunotherapy.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can identify lung cancer patients at increased risk of developing a serious immunotherapy-related side effect before treatment begins, offering a possible path toward more personalized monitoring and prevention strategies.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified a previously unknown role for B cells, which are adaptive immune cells, in triggering and sustaining colitis occurring as a side effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors, a widely used form of cancer immunotherapy.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified a previously unknown role for B cells, which are adaptive immune cells, in triggering and sustaining colitis occurring as a side effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors, a widely used form of cancer immunotherapy.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world's leading causes of death, and preventing post-treatment relapse continues to be a major worldwide health challenge.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help physicians predict treatment and survival outcomes in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with immunotherapy, according to a new study published in Nature Medicine.

arXiv:2609.11213v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Optimal scheduling of combined chemo-immunotherapy is often formulated as a control-affine optimal control problem, which generically yields boundary-selected (bang-bang-type) protocols unless singular arcs occur. This structure, while convenient, neglects saturating pharmacodynamics at high dose rates. We incorporate Michaelis-Menten saturation directly into the therapy channels, making the dynamics non-control-affine and the Hamiltonian nonlinear in each control. With strictly positive exposure penalties, the Hamiltonian admits an explicit three-regime pointwise minimization law: each input is chosen at the lower bound, the upper bound, or as a unique interior minimizer. On interior intervals the strict Legendre condition holds, so continuously modulated dosing arises as a regular interior extremal rather than a singular-arc or smoothing artifact. The resulting transcription is nonconvex; we therefore use a hybrid Quantum Particle

arXiv:2609.11213v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Optimal scheduling of combined chemo-immunotherapy is often formulated as a control-affine optimal control problem, which generically yields boundary-selected (bang-bang-type) protocols unless singular arcs occur. This structure, while convenient, neglects saturating pharmacodynamics at high dose rates. We incorporate Michaelis-Menten saturation directly into the therapy channels, making the dynamics non-control-affine and the Hamiltonian nonlinear in each control. With strictly positive exposure penalties, the Hamiltonian admits an explicit three-regime pointwise minimization law: each input is chosen at the lower bound, the upper bound, or as a unique interior minimizer. On interior intervals the strict Legendre condition holds, so continuously modulated dosing arises as a regular interior extremal rather than a singular-arc or smoothing artifact. The resulting transcription is nonconvex; we therefore use a hybrid Quantum Particle

The metabolism of cancer cells may play a key role in their ability to evade the immune system. This is demonstrated by a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Liège, which reveals how methylglyoxal stress – a by-product of tumor metabolism – promotes immunosuppression and the formation of metastases, and may contribute to resistance to immunotherapy and the progression of triple-negative cancer.

Despite the revolutionary impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors on cancer therapy, 60% to 80% of patients with NSCLC still show suboptimal responses.

A new real-world observational study has found that adding adjuvant immunotherapy after surgery does not significantly improve survival outcomes in patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have already achieved a pathological complete response (pCR) following neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy.

A team from UNIGE and HUG has shown that administering cell immunotherapy before surgery to remove a brain tumor is significantly more effective than administering it afterwards.

Gynecological tumors, including cervical cancer (CC), endometrial cancer (EC), and ovarian cancer (OC), represent a significant global health burden for women.

Children with Hymenoptera venom allergy experience predominantly mild, local reactions during venom immunotherapy, with no severe systemic reactions in those completing long-term treatment.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant subtypes of breast cancer, accounting for 15-20% of all cases.

Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to advance basic understanding of immune processes that could aid the design of next-generation immunotherapies.

Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment, yet many tumors remain stubbornly resistant to its effects.

Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University and the University of Michigan have developed the world’s first oral microbiome-based nanodrug for cancer immunotherapy. Sungkyunkwan University said Monday that the nanodrug significantly enhances the ability of immune cells to attack cancer cells by using natural metabolites produced by gut bacteria. The university’s research team, led by Cho Young-seok, professor at the School of Medicine, conducted a joint study with researchers at the University of Michigan, including James J. Moon, a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The findings were published Monday in Nature Nanotechnology, one of the world’s leading journals in nanoscience and medicine, under the title “Oral nano-delivery of a gut microbial metabolite enhances T cell stemness for cancer immunotherapy.” “This study is the first to uncover at the molecular level how gut microbes in our bodies enhance immune function and to translate this mechanism into an orally

A joint research team—led by professor Young Seok Cho from the School of Medicine, alongside professor James J. Moon from the University of Michigan—has developed the world's first oral, microbiome-based nanomedicine. By leveraging natural metabolites produced by gut bacteria, the new drug significantly enhances immune cells' ability to attack cancer cells. The study was published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Acarizax is now the first house dust mite immunotherapy accepted by the SMC for patients with persistent allergic rhinitis.

A team led by researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the HI-STEM Stem Cell Institute, and Medical Clinic V at Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) has characterized T cells in the bone marrow in cases of multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia: A specific group of tumor-reactive T cells can recognize and, in principle, fight cancer cells, but is often not sufficiently activated.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors, cancer vaccines and cellular therapies have reshaped oncology, yet most patients still do not achieve lasting benefit.

A protein that evolved long before the human circulatory system may help unlock stronger cancer treatments. When C3 is produced inside tumors, it blocks immune-suppressing cells and gives immunotherapy a better chance to work. Researchers were even able to recreate this effect in resistant tumors, significantly improving survival in mice.

A major step forward in cancer immunotherapy is emerging through the growing development of dendritic cell vaccines, a highly targeted approach designed to harness the body's own immune system to fight tumors.

arXiv:2608.00544v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Identifying the ``Inflamed'' immunophenotype in Gastric Adenocarcinoma predicts immunotherapy response but requires an expensive 10-gene RNA signature. While deep learning on standard H\&E slides offers a scalable alternative, conventional binary classifiers oversimplify continuous RNA data and introduce label noise. To resolve this, we propose VITA (VIrtual Transcriptomic Approximation). By aligning H\&E and RNA into a joint latent space during training, VITA requires only standard H\&E at inference to retrieve morphologically similar historical cases and approximate the continuous RNA signature. Achieving 0.72 classification accuracy and a 0.66 Spearman correlation, VITA provides a cost-effective ``virtual transcriptomics'' pre-screening tool that preserves the continuous phenotypic spectrum without requiring genomic sequencing.

Three years after stopping probiotic peanut or peanut oral immunotherapy, people in remission have fewer reactions and greater QOL gains than those with desensitization without remission.

A combination of two immunotherapy drugs showed encouraging activity when added to standard chemotherapy given prior to surgery for patients with high-risk, early-stage HER2-negative breast cancer, according to phase 2 clinical trial results from the ongoing I-SPY2 clinical trial platform.

The University of Glasgow's Small Animal Hospital is the first in the UK to use a treatment for dogs suffering from serious allergic reactions to bee and wasp stings. The treatment, Hymenoptera Venom Immunotherapy (VIT), has now been successfully used on a number of patients, and while the approach is still relatively new, clinicians believe it offers a way to prevent recurrent anaphylaxis in dogs.

Omalizumab demonstrates higher treatment success for multifood allergies compared to oral immunotherapy, with fewer adverse events impacting patient retention.

Cancer cells survive by hiding from the immune system's surveillance. A KAIST research team has developed a new anticancer platform that makes cancer cells send out their own danger signal—prompting immune cells to attack—while simultaneously delivering gene therapy.

Scientists at Houston Methodist Research Institute have developed a biodegradable implant designed to deliver cancer-fighting immunotherapy drugs directly into tumors over an extended period, a strategy that could improve treatment effectiveness while reducing side effects.

Scientists used CRISPR to make prostate cancer cells easier for the immune system to detect and destroy. The experimental treatment dramatically improved the effects of immunotherapy in mice and may offer hope for other hard-to-treat tumors.

A major pillar of cancer immunotherapy involves stimulating T cells, the specialized killers of the immune system, to attack tumors.

A lung cancer trial was stopped early due to a high rate of fatal adverse events with the addition of thoracic radiotherapy to standard maintenance immunotherapy.

The future of federally funded research at Harvard Medical School — supported by taxpayers and done in service

An ancient molecule that existed long before the blood circulation system evolved, has been found to support cancer immunotherapy.

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has transformed cancer treatment, but many tumors remain resistant.

City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States with its National Medical Center ranked among the nation's top cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, has opened an innovative Phase 2 clinical trial designed to map how tumors change as they begin to resist immunotherapy, treatment that improves the immune system's ability to fight disease.

A new Review published in the open-access journal Ferroptosis and Oxidative Stress highlights Z-nucleic acid-binding protein 1 (ZBP1) as an emerging innate immune sensor that converts genomic stress into potent antitumor immunity.

Using computational tools, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a method to predict which patients with a primary liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) would most benefit from combination treatment using immunotherapy and a targeted therapy that blocks the growth signals that the tumor depends on.

A new study from a team including University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers is the first to show metabolites produced by certain bacteria in the gut can positively impact the body's immune response to cancer.

arXiv:2607.07261v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has emerged as a successful treatment for relapsed or refractory hematological malignancies, particularly for B cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B ALL), where CD19 targeted therapies have achieved high initial remission rates. However, relapse after treatment remains a major clinical challenge, frequently associated with antigen escape mechanisms and the emergence of CD19$^-$ leukemic cells. Understanding the interaction between CAR T cells and antigen expression dynamics is, therefore, essential for improving therapeutic efficacy and long-term patient outcomes. In this work, we develop and comparatively analyze novel mathematical models describing CAR T immunotherapy and CD19 dynamics in leukemia. Our proposed framework combines compartmental ordinary differential equation (ODE) formulations as well as partial differential equation (PDE) systems. Both methods are able to capture the

Gastrointestinal side effects are among the most important issues to address with patients starting on immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Conventional TIL therapy, clinically validatedrecently with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of lifileucel for advanced melanoma,stillfaces substantial hurdles.

The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has marked a paradigm shift in cancer treatment, yet a significant portion of breast cancer patients fail to respond to these therapies.

Cancer immunotherapy drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can be miracle drugs for cancer patients, curing some and turning deadly disease into a manageable chronic condition in others.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are among the most abundant immune cells in the tumor microenvironment.

The ERC (European Research Council) Proof of Concept grant awarded to Alexandre Detappe (Gustave Roussy/Institut Strauss/Université Paris-Saclay/Inserm) will fund the Nano-BITE project, which aims to improve the ability of the immune system to fight solid tumors through nanomedicine.

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated that an artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis of tumor biopsies can predict responses to immunotherapy in a study of patients with rare cancers, published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has reshaped the treatment landscape for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), offering new hope where few options existed.

A research team at the University of Turku in Finland has developed a reliable laboratory model to study BAP1-deficient melanomas, which are a rare type of melanoma that evade the immune system once they have metastasized and are universally resistant to current state-of-the-art immunotherapies. The tool could change how therapies are developed for aggressive melanomas that currently have almost no effective treatment options.

Patients with locally advanced cervical cancer who receive dual checkpoint blockade before standard chemoradiation have high 3-year survival, but outcomes are poorer for those with ‘cold’ tumors.

Researchers found that a rare liver cancer evades immunotherapy by luring immune T cells away from the tumor and trapping them in nearby fibrous tissue. An FDA-approved drug called AMD3100 freed those T cells to attack the cancer, significantly improving the effectiveness of immunotherapy in tumor samples.

A pilot study from Karolinska Institutet shows that immunotherapy may enable stimulation of egg maturation in women with autoimmune POI (premature ovarian insufficiency) – a condition that usually leads to infertility.

Traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy can induce immunogenic cell death (ICD), but their efficacy is often limited by drug resistance, severe off-target toxicity, and immune-related adverse events.

Oral immunotherapy with pasteurized egg may reduce the risk for serious reactions from accidental exposure and offer a feasible alternative to strict avoidance in young children with egg allergy.

Physician-scientist Theodore Scott Nowicki, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics hematology/oncology and microbiology, immunology, & molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has been awarded the Hero Grant from MIB Agents, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for children and young adults with osteosarcoma.

Liver transplantation remains one of the most powerful curative options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) because it removes both the tumor and the diseased liver.

Creatine, the organic acid that is popularly taken as a supplement by athletes and bodybuilders, supercharges a critical class of immune cells that activate and prepare the body’s key cancer-fighters, according to new UCLA research.

A study from the University of Calgary shows that removing a single gene makes colon cancer cells a target for immunotherapy - a fundamental breakthrough.

A new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated that pre-operative radiation therapy for brain metastases not only targets tumor cells directly but also can activate immune pathways that can make tumors more receptive to immunotherapy.

A type of white blood cell in the immune system, known as neutrophils, can make cancer immunotherapy less effective. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Immunity.

A comprehensive review led by Associate Researcher Linnan Zhu and Academician Zemin Zhang at Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center (BIOPIC), Peking University, China, and Chongqing Medical University, China, was published in Volume 2, article number 27 of the journal Immunity & Inflammation on June 05, 2026.

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review Genentech's supplemental Biologic License Application for their immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq®) for the treatment of patients with stage III colon cancer with deficient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mismatch repair (dMMR).

Malignant tumors remain a major threat to human health, with conventional therapies and first-generation immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) facing limitations like drug resistance and low response rates.

Starting egg oral immunotherapy at low in-clinic doses and increasing them slowly is associated with better tolerance and may help patients with egg allergy reintroduce egg into their diets.

The study adds to growing evidence that immunotherapy and chemoembolization prolong progression-free survival.

Early peanut oral immunotherapy may confer lasting immune benefits, with most young patients continuing to consume peanuts years later and only a few reporting allergic reactions.

Immune checkpoint therapy, a type of cancer immunotherapy that helps the immune system recognize and attack tumors, has transformed cancer treatment.

Preventive house dust mite sublingual immunotherapy in sensitized, symptom-free preschoolers may safely induce blocking antibodies, reduce allergic responses, and limit new sensitizations.

Immunotherapies such as so-called checkpoint inhibitors activate the body's own immune system to fight cancer cells and have revolutionized the treatment of many types of tumor.

arXiv:2605.25050v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Integrating multimodal datasets in clinical oncology is frequently hindered by high dimensionality and blockwise missingness, where entire data sources are unavailable for specific patient subsets. Standard survival models often struggle with these gaps, leading to biased results or patient exclusion. We introduce Multimodality Stacking with Blockwise missing values (MSB), a late-fusion framework for survival analysis that independently models modality-specific features before aggregating predictions via a cross-validated stacking meta-learner. MSB was validated on the PIONeeR study (n=443 patients, 378 biomarkers across eight heterogeneous sources) to predict progression-free survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. MSB yielded higher predictive performance (C-index) than baseline algorithms. Improvements varied by baseline strength: linear models showed a 15.9% increase (p

arXiv:2605.25050v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Integrating multimodal datasets in clinical oncology is frequently hindered by high dimensionality and blockwise missingness, where entire data sources are unavailable for specific patient subsets. Standard survival models often struggle with these gaps, leading to biased results or patient exclusion. We introduce Multimodality Stacking with Blockwise missing values (MSB), a late-fusion framework for survival analysis that independently models modality-specific features before aggregating predictions via a cross-validated stacking meta-learner. MSB was validated on the PIONeeR study (n=443 patients, 378 biomarkers across eight heterogeneous sources) to predict progression-free survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. MSB yielded higher predictive performance (C-index) than baseline algorithms. Improvements varied by baseline strength: linear models showed a 15.9% increase (p

arXiv:2605.25050v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Integrating multimodal datasets in clinical oncology is frequently hindered by high dimensionality and blockwise missingness, where entire data sources are unavailable for specific patient subsets. Standard survival models often struggle with these gaps, leading to biased results or patient exclusion. We introduce Multimodality Stacking with Blockwise missing values (MSB), a late-fusion framework for survival analysis that independently models modality-specific features before aggregating predictions via a cross-validated stacking meta-learner. MSB was validated on the PIONeeR study (n=443 patients, 378 biomarkers across eight heterogeneous sources) to predict progression-free survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. MSB yielded higher predictive performance (C-index) than baseline algorithms. Improvements varied by baseline strength: linear models showed a 15.9% increase (p

Researchers with the James P. Allison Institute™ at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a new gene expression signature within tumors that can help identify patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who are more likely to experience lasting benefits from combined immunotherapy treatment.

Researchers from The University of Osaka find that only a small fraction of T cells may drive the robust anti-cancer response seen in breakthrough multiple myeloma immunotherapy.

Conventional immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies, can reinvigorate T cells but typically benefit less than 30% of patients.

(This is an excerpt of the Health Rounds newsletter, where we present latest medical studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays.)

Immunotherapy could be used to treat depression, early trial suggests  The GuardianPilot trial suggests anti-inflammatory drug could help difficult-to-treat depression  Medical XpressExperts uncover anti-inflammatory drug that could help millions of Brits who suffer from depression  The IndependentDepression ‘cured’ in half of patients taking arthritis drug given to thousands  The SunAnti-Inflammatory Drug Could Help Some People with Depression  Inside Precision Medicine

Immunotherapy could be used to treat depression, early trial suggests  The GuardianPilot trial suggests anti-inflammatory drug could help difficult-to-treat depression  Medical XpressExperts uncover anti-inflammatory drug that could help millions of Brits who suffer from depression  The IndependentDepression ‘cured’ in half of patients taking arthritis drug given to thousands  The SunAnti-Inflammatory Drug Could Help Some People with Depression  Inside Precision Medicine

A new study in Cell Reports Medicine from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center identified key features that may help predict which types of rare cancers are likely to respond to immunotherapy.

As tumors outgrow their blood and nutrient supplies, or respond to treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, individual cancer cells die, exposing their internal scaffolds.

Cancer immunotherapy works by mobilizing the body's own immune system to recognize and destroy malignant cells.

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have revealed that sensory nerve signals interfere with the immune system's response to lung cancer.

NICE has recommended durvalumab for NHS use in England as part of perioperative treatment for adults with resectable gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Although cancer immunotherapy has transformed treatment by harnessing the immune system to eliminate tumors, only a small subset of patients benefit. Many solid tumors remain "cold," characterized by poor immune cell infiltration and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB).

Engineered nanoparticles can improve cancer immunotherapy by delivering drugs, antigens, and genetic payloads with greater precision while remodeling the tumor microenvironment. The review highlights how nano-immunotherapy could boost immune activation, improve checkpoint-blockade responses, and support more personalized cancer treatment, although safety, scalability, and clinical translation challenges remain.

A Swedish randomized trial found that slow up-dosing peanut oral immunotherapy with a low maintenance dose helped 82% of preschool children achieve sustained peanut tolerance after three years. The approach proved safer than conventional protocols, with severe reactions uncommon and strong family adherence throughout treatment.

In this webinar, Joseph Shultz (VP of technical development and manufacturing, Ottimo Pharma) and Imroz Ghangas (VP of commercial sales, Asimov) discuss strategies for achieving high-performing clonal titers and advancing a dual-paratopic cancer immunotherapy from sequence to dosed patient in under a year. The post From Sequence to Patient in Under 12 Months: A Case Study in Advancing Complex Cancer Immunotherapies appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center have identified a promising new strategy to overcome resistance to immunotherapy in colorectal cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide.