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Immune-related adverse events are a limiting factor in the use of cancer immunotherapies but the mechanisms and risk factors are largely unknown. T cells that recognize a heart-muscle protein mediate an immunotherapy-related condition called myocarditis.
Treatment with the drugs relatlimab and nivolumab before the surgical removal of a type of cancer called melanoma resulted in tumours becoming inviable in 57% of individuals, and no severe adverse effects were observed. People with a favourable treatment response had a better survival outcome than did those who did not respond.
For breast cancers that have spread, a randomized phase II clinical trial shows that using genomic analysis to target therapies can improve outcomes, but only in people with a genetic alteration that has previously been associated with antitumour activity in clinical trials.
An improved approach has been developed for producing precisely designed immune cells called CAR T cells that recognize and kill cancer cells. CAR T cells generated in this way were safe and showed potential therapeutic effects in individuals with a relapsed or treatment-resistant form of the immune-cell cancer called B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
