Still, “it is the exceptions that give you the best insights,” said Dr. Drew Pardoll, who directs the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. But when white blood cells swarm in to attack the cancer cells, they bounce back, rebuffed. Lung cancer, a genetic type of colorectal cancer and melanoma have huge numbers of mutations, and immunotherapy drugs often are successful in treating them. It is caused by a virus, and researchers suggested the infection itself draws the attention of the immune system. But the regulated genes were normal and did not produce proteins that the immune system might recognize as abnormal.

Source: New York Times February 19, 2018 16:56 UTC