Watch “Breakthrough” The Film About Nobel Prize Winner Jim Allison And The Invention Saving Millions of Lives; Learn How Immunotherapy Can Help Late-Stage Lung Cancer

Prior to Dr. Allison’s innovative work, the majority of progress in cancer came from prevention and early detection. Now, treatment is leading the way in increasing survival rates in cancer.

All in the family

Dr. Allison was born in 1948 in Alice, Texas.

Dr. Allison lost his mom to lymphoma when he was just 11 years old. His mom’s brother passed away from melanoma and her other brother had lung cancer.

Dr. Allison remembers his mother’s lymphoma treatment, saying, “All I knew was she was sick and she had these burns on her throat and she was in bed a lot. She was dying, Allison recalls.

With so much cancer in his family, Dr. Allison was inspired to seek answers.

A big discovery

T cells were discovered when Dr. Allison was in college, which led to his interest in them.

T cells are white blood cells, and they respond against viral infections and bacterial infections. He later went on to work at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, where he was able to make incredible breakthroughs in the understanding of T cells and the T cell receptor.

Dr. Allison used pioneering engineer techniques to test his hypothesis about T cells and their capabilities for fighting cancer. There was initial skepticism of immunotherapy and its capabilities, but Dr. Allison persevered, just like he always did.

For years, there were clinical trials for immunotherapy and they just didn’t work. So there was a belief among some in the oncology community that the therapy would never work.

Dr. Allison smartly targeted biotech companies who might be willing to take a gamble on his immunotherapy ideas, which were centered on the body using its own immune system to recognize and fight off cancer.

Ultimately, Dr. Allison and his team were able make progress on the immunotherapy science and the data was proving it effective. Dr. Allison’s work has now saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people diagnosed with cancer.

Immunotherapy for late-stage lung cancer

If you’ve been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer, keep reading to learn more about immunotherapy and how it can help you live a longer, healthier life. Here are the highlights:

• Immunotherapy works by boosting the immune system response against lung cancer.
• Today, immunotherapy is a first treatment for many people with late-stage lung cancer unless you have a specific mutation that is likely to less its effectiveness.
• Researchers are studying new targets for lung cancer immunotherapy in clinical trials.
• Even if you receive immunotherapy, you may still undergo more traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation as well.

Advanced stage cancer is generally not considered curable. However, immunotherapy is making it more treatable.

What are checkpoint inhibitors?

When doctors recommend immunotherapy for lung cancer, they are usually referring to checkpoint inhibitors.

Here is how they work:

• Checkpoints are proteins on T cells, which is a type of immune cell. T cells attack harmful substances such as bacteria, viruses, and even cancer cells. PD-1 is an example of a checkpoint found on this type of immune cell.
• Lung cancer cells come equipped with their own protein, known as PD-L1. Think of it as a cloak that makes it hide from the immune system.
• The PD-1 to PD-L1 interaction turns the immune system ‘off’, allowing cancer cells to hide. When interaction is blocked by either PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors, suddenly the negative switch is turned off and the immune system can begin destroying and ultimately killing cancer cells.
• One group of checkpoint inhibitors block PD-1. This essentially flips the switch ‘on’ T cells to unleash them on the cancer.

However, like other cancer treatments, these drugs aren’t universally effective and about 10% of patients have serious side effects including:

• Fatigue
• Rashes
• Diarrhea
• Weakness
• Headache
• Impaired thyroid function

The biggest worry is that by unleashing the body’s immune system, this treatment might trigger damaging inflammation. Essentially, your body could start to attack its own organs, which would be troublesome, to say the least. If this happens, the side effects are often irreversible and you may have them for life.

Related: How Genetic Testing Determines Treatment in Lung Cancer 

Biomarker testing

To find our if you are a good candidate for  checkpoint inhibitors, your doctor will probably perform a biomarker test.

Biomarker testing is the key to unlocking personalized treatment in late-stage lung cancer. This is what it involves:

• You will have a biopsy to remove a small sample of tumor tissue to help identify specific cancer characteristics.
• Tests usually check for PDL-1. Its presence can indicate how effective certain immunotherapies may be for you. High levels of PDL-1 biomarkers indicate you are likely to benefit from immunotherapy. Specific specific genetic mutations can signal that certain treatments may be less effective.
• Results help doctors tailor treatment to a tumor’s unique biomarkers so they can deliver potentially more effective way to combat late-stage lung cancer.

While biomarker testing in lung cancer assesses specific proteins and molecules to guide treatment choices, genetic testing looks for inherited or acquired genetic mutations within the cancer cells.

Any patient diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer patients should also consider genetic testing too, as it can reveal targeted treatment options.

In the pipeline

Several new immunotherapies are working their way through clinical trials. This a major step in the right direction for expanding treatment options.

Some studies are looking at various different checkpoint targets. The more checkpoints doctors are able to target, the better the responses.

Cancer vaccines are another investigational immunotherapy. Just as a vaccine for the flu or COVID-19 generates an immune response against a virus, these vaccines would trigger an immune response against cancer. This may be the future of cancer treatment and prevention as we know it.

 

 

 

 

 

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