A cancer trial’s unexpected result: Remission in every patient

Re:A cancer trial’s unexpected result: Remission in every pa... by instagraham on Sunday June 05, 2022 @11:04AM (#31631594)

That is the function of checkpoint inhibitors, according to an explanation I got from a cancer researcher after asking a similar question.

Essential, cancer cells convince the immune system not to attack them, so these inhibitors target the mechanisms by which they do so to get the immune system to take note of these cells. Hope someone more knowledgeable will correct me if I'm wrong.

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Re:A cancer trial’s unexpected result: Remission in every pa... by adamredwoods on Sunday June 05, 2022 @01:12PM (#31632865)

Cancer cells express proteins that communicate with lymphocytes (white blood cells) to block apoptosis (cell death).

We can't target the cancer cells, so we tweak the lymphocytes to block PD-1 receptors, thus ignoring ALL cells that express a lot of PD-L! protein.

This unfortunately includes healthy cells.

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