Anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy creates new T cells while freeing them to fight
Nobel Laureate Jim Allison, Ph.D., invented immune checkpoint blockade immunotherapy by blocking the CTLA-4 protein on T cells, freeing those killer immune cells to attack cancer. Now Allison and colleagues have shown that thwarting CTLA-4 also liberates T cells to assume new identities, including one that’s vital to an effective response against tumors.
In a paper in the April edition of Immunity, the researchers show that CTLA...

Immunotherapy leader details ongoing expansion of cancer treatment's reach
In October 2018, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Jim Allison, Ph.D., chair of Immunology, for his discoveries on...
Immunotherapy pioneer Jim Allison honored with Sjöberg, Wolf and Fudan-Zhongzhi awards
International recognition continues to accumulate for Jim Allison, Ph.D., for opening up an entirely new way to treat cancer by freeing the...
Upon further review: Immunotherapy’s curative potential
Immunotherapy is complex, has curative potential for some patients when given alone or combined with other drugs, and needs further support to more efficiently exploit its possibilities for cancer patients.
Those messages from two leaders in the field were delivered in a pair of reviews published recently in the prestigious scientific journals Cell and Science.
Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Genitourinary Medical...

Moon Shots Program puts antibody therapies in ORBIT
A new research platform of MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program will lead a collaboration with an international pharmaceutical company to develop...
MD Anderson immunotherapy innovator wins Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
James Allison, Ph.D., chair of Immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, was awarded the 2015 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize Saturday...
Immunotherapy and cancer's 'super survivors'
A story published last week in the Wall Street Journal reveals how immune checkpoint blockade is overcoming metastatic disease for a significant...