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Take two: Combining immunotherapy with epigenetic drugs to tackle cancer

Nature Medicine volume 22, pages 8–10 (2016)Cite this article

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Among people with NSCLC participating in other studies, fewer than half of those on nivolumab—a checkpoint inhibitor that targets a cell surface protein known as PD-1—survived six months without cancer progression. Brahmer and her colleagues expected similar results in her trial: perhaps three of the six would survive for at least six months, and maybe one for longer than a year (N. Engl. J. Med. 366, 2443–2454, 2012). Yet five survived past the initial six months—and four years later, two are still alive. A third person, who died of complications from previous treatment, showed no evidence of cancer recurrence at the time of death, according to Brahmer (Cancer Discov. 1, OF1–OF10, 2011).

Given the small size of the group, the possibility that the success could be due simply to chance cannot be ruled out. But azacitidine and entinostat, which alter the epigenome, may have primed the patients' immune systems to respond to the checkpoint inhibitor. The experiment was the first to suggest that pairing these drugs could radically improve patient outcomes.

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  1. Karen Weintraub is a freelance writer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.,

    Karen Weintraub

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Weintraub, K. Take two: Combining immunotherapy with epigenetic drugs to tackle cancer. Nat Med 22, 8–10 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0116-8

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