October 1, 2017
In a first-of-its-kind study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report that a blood sample, or liquid biopsy, can reveal which patients will respond to checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapies.
September 21, 2017
Checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy has been shown to be very effective in recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer but only in a minority of patients. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers may have found a way to double down on immunotherapy’s effectiveness.
December 1, 2016
Previous studies identified the Hippo pathway kinases LATS1/2 as a tumor suppressor, but new research led by University of California San Diego School of Medicine scientists reveals a surprising role for these enzymes in subduing cancer immunity. The findings could have a clinical role in improving efficiency of immunotherapy drugs.
April 29, 2015
…that blocking or removing immune-suppressing cells allows a special type of chemotherapy — and the immune cells it activates — to destroy prostate tumors. This novel combination therapy, termed chemoimmunotherapy, achieved near complete remission in mouse models of advanced prostate cancer. The study is published April 29 in Nature.
November 27, 2017
A team of University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center researchers studying new drugs designed to break resistance to cancer immunotherapy has been awarded a V Foundation for Cancer Research translational grant of $600,000 over three years.
November 19, 2024
The standard treatment for head and neck cancer, cisplatin, can’t be given to some patients due to pre-existing conditions. A new study compares the efficacy of two alternatives: cetuximab, a monoclonal antibody, and durvalumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
June 22, 2020
UC San Diego researchers uncovered in mice how IRE1α, a molecule involved in cells’ response to stress, determines whether macrophages promote inflammation in the tumor microenvironment. Inflammation is known to promote tumor growth, making IRE1α an attractive target for drug development.
December 7, 2021
UC San Diego researchers identify new strategy to improve efficacy of immunotherapy on resistant liver cancers.
April 11, 2022
Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, with collaborators, have further elucidated how ovarian cancer tumors defy immunotherapy, identifying new molecular targets that might boost immune response.
August 17, 2020
UC San Diego researchers discovered that tumor cells in younger and female patients accumulate cancer-causing mutations that are more poorly presented to the immune system, better enabling tumors to escape detection and clearance.
