MSKCC Research Provides Lead On Immuno-oncology Resistance

A collaborative team of leaders in the field of cancer immunology from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has made a key discovery that advances the understanding of why some patients respond to ipilimumab, an immunotherapy drug, while others do not. MSK was at the forefront of the clinical research that brought this CTLA-4 blocking antibody to melanoma patients.

A report published online first today in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that in patients who respond to ipilimumab, their cancer cells carry a high number of gene mutations—some of which make tumors more visible to the immune system, and therefore easier to fight. The research was led by Vice Chair of Radiation Oncology and cancer genomics researcher Timothy Chan, MD, PhD ; oncology fellow Alexandra Snyder Charen, MD; and Chief of the Melanoma and Immunotherapeutics Service and the Lloyd J. Old Chair for Clinical Investigation Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD.

“We are learning that there are few treatments that don’t have some footprint in the cancer genome,” says Dr. Chan. “For the first time, it might be feasible to develop a reliable diagnostic test to help guide treatment decisions by predicting who will respond.”

Read the complete press release: http://bit.ly/1ytlDbB

Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Pressroom