Immunopathology & Immunotherapy

A novel approach to cancer immunotherapy—strategies designed to induce the immune system to attack cancer cells—may provide a new and cost-effective weapon against some of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.

Investigators from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center report in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology that a protein they engineered was able to prolong survival in animal models of both tumors.  Their success came from combining a molecule that targets a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions.