The Medical Advisor

Cancer immunotherapy represents a major paradigm shift in oncology — mobilizing a patient's own immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells, rather than relying solely on surgery, radiation, or cytotoxic chemotherapy. It has emerged as a fourth pillar of effective cancer treatment , offering durable responses and, in select cancers, the potential for long-term remission. Immunotherapy became widely known when former President Jimmy Carter’s medical team used it to treat his metastatic melanoma cancer. When the former president announced in August, 2015 that malignant tumors had been found in both his liver and his brain, most people presumed that he would be dead within months. But just four months later he surprised the world with the news that, following a remarkable and revolutionary new treatment, there was no sign of cancer in his body. The treatment he received was a drug classified as an “immune checkpoint inhibitor”. This class of medications has kicked off a revolut...

Cancer immunotherapy (CIT) has become a standard of care in multiple indications. Apart from radically increasing response rate and prolonging survival, CIT offers the ultimate benefit of any therapy, which is a cure (1). Credit: Statista Since the early days of CIT, it was recognized that the benefit is driven by complicated biological mechanisms, which involves a cross-talk between the tumor, its microenvironment, and the overall immune system of the patient ( 2 ,  3 ). Studies aiming to understand and explore CIT mechanisms of action and pharmacodynamic and response prediction biomarkers have initially evaluated each component independently, but ultimately need to look at these questions in concert. Technological advancements in the field combined with the availability of better translational models and ever-expanding clinical datasets enabled basic, translational, and clinical researchers to have a deeper understanding of this complex interaction ( 4 – 8 ). This combined Resear...