The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) established its new magazine discovery of cancer and one of its most recent study published in the annual event 102nd meeting, held between April 2 and 6. The study, by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, evaluated how the immune response in the tumor microenvironment may help researchers improve the targeted therapy of breast cancer. The researchers found that the level of macrophages and CD8 + T cells, components of the human immune system, help predict cancer recurrence and survival.
Targeted biological therapies impair recruitment of macrophages in tumors has so far shown promising results in preclinical studies. "Using pre-clinical transgenic mouse models of cancer development, researchers can not only help determine a safe dose for a new product, but also to identify biomarkers indicative of biological response to new drugs. Identification of relevant biomarkers can then be translated into clinical studies and help determine which patients did or did not respond to drugs, "said Lisa Cousens, Ph.D., professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Coussens and colleagues tested PLX3397, a compound developed by Plexxikon Inc. to block the recruitment of macrophages in tumors. While the focus was breast cancer, until now, researchers are also studying other cancers, including mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective membrane of the lungs, chest and abdomen is usually caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos. This aggressive type of cancer is difficult to diagnose and treat, make new forms of screening or advances in the treatment of mesothelioma a welcome addition. As things stand now, the prognosis of mesothelioma is a typical life expectancy of no more than 18 months after diagnosis.
Targeted biological therapies impair recruitment of macrophages in tumors has so far shown promising results in preclinical studies. "Using pre-clinical transgenic mouse models of cancer development, researchers can not only help determine a safe dose for a new product, but also to identify biomarkers indicative of biological response to new drugs. Identification of relevant biomarkers can then be translated into clinical studies and help determine which patients did or did not respond to drugs, "said Lisa Cousens, Ph.D., professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Coussens and colleagues tested PLX3397, a compound developed by Plexxikon Inc. to block the recruitment of macrophages in tumors. While the focus was breast cancer, until now, researchers are also studying other cancers, including mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective membrane of the lungs, chest and abdomen is usually caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos. This aggressive type of cancer is difficult to diagnose and treat, make new forms of screening or advances in the treatment of mesothelioma a welcome addition. As things stand now, the prognosis of mesothelioma is a typical life expectancy of no more than 18 months after diagnosis.
