Immunotherapy, which has yielded excellent results in fighting cancer, could be boosted by the findings of the researchA cancer treatment using immune cells that have been genetically supercharged to attack tumours has been successfully tested in humans. Researchers showed that a type of genetic engineering called Crispr-Cas9 could be safely used to modify a patient’s immune cells, and that when returned to the body these tweaked cells stayed potent for months. It was tested in three patients, two who had advanced myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, and one with advanced sarcoma. The findings could greatly broaden the scope of immunotherapy, a treatment class that has already yielded spectacular results in fighting cancer. Cancerous cells multiply because they have found ways to evade our immune systems.

Source: The Times February 07, 2020 00:00 UTC