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NEW YORK, NY (March 1, 2021) By harnessing the immune system against cancer, immunotherapies have revolutionized the way some types of cancer are treated. But most patients across cancer types do not respond, and in most cases, scientists are at a loss as to why.
Researchers at Columbia and MIT have created a new technique that can uncover nearly all of the tricks cancer cells use to evade immunotherapies, which could lead to the development of more effective treatments.
The researchers tested their new technique with cancer cells and matching immune cells from melanoma patients and identified previously unknown resistance mechanisms to immune checkpoint inhibitors, a powerful and widely used class of immunotherapy drugs.