{"id":26510,"date":"2020-11-09T16:01:15","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T16:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=18095"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:16:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:16:14","slug":"the-long-road-to-targeting-the-holy-grail-of-the-immune-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/the-long-road-to-targeting-the-holy-grail-of-the-immune-response\/","title":{"rendered":"The long road to targeting the holy grail of the immune response"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThis is not the cure to cancer. I think that\u2019s very important to clarify. But I think it\u2019s the beginning of the long road to better cancer immunotherapy.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Sergio Quezada has long been studying the complex relationship between the immune system and cancer at University College London \u2013 a field of research that\u2019s moving rapidly, and has already produced some stunning successes \u2013 drugs known as immunotherapies are now available for several types of cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

And Quezada\u2019s fascination with the immune system has culminated in not only a potential new immunotherapy drug, but yet another paradigm shift in our understanding of how cancer immunotherapy works. <\/span><\/p>\n

The latest study to come out of Quezada\u2019s Cancer Research UK-funded lab, published in <\/span>Nature Cancer<\/span><\/em>, outlines a new way to harness the immune system in favour of killing cancer cells. And it\u2019s already led to early stage clinical trials.<\/span>  <\/span><\/p>\n

This story of discovery began many years ago, decades in fact. And as Quezada comments, it\u2018s just the beginning.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Balancing T cells, a delicate dance <\/span> <\/span><\/h2>\n

The body\u2019s immune system is tightly controlled. \u201cWhen you think about the immune response to anything, you need to have stop and go signals,\u201d explains Quezada<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Manipulating the balance between these stop and go signals to encourage a patient\u2019s immune system to target their tumour has been a key focus of immunotherapy research, with most of the current immunotherapy focusing on so-called checkpoint signals, found on the surface of immune cells called T cells.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n