New approaches to tame the immune system in the fight against cancer are getting us closer to a future where cancer becomes a curable disease. I spoke with experts in the field to gather a realistic overview of the potential of four of these promising new cancer treatments. Curing cancer is certainly one of the big challenges of the 21st century. Our knowledge of the mechanisms behind cancer has greatly improved in the last two decades. This has revealed the huge variability that can be found between not only different types of cancer, but also between patients with the same type of cancer. It seems increasingly evident that the solution won’t be a
single ‘cure for cancer’. Rather, each patient will be treated accordingly to their specific needs. For personalized medicine to become a reality, we need a range of therapies wide enough to cover the whole spectrum of cancer.
In recent years, several new technologies have arisen with the promise of improving the outcomes of cancer treatments by helping the immune system identify and attack tumors, a field known as immuno-oncology. These technologies could make a big difference in the
development of effective options that take us closer to being able to ‘cure’ cancer.
Making unique cancer vaccines Cancer is caused by mutations that transform healthy cells
into tumor cells. These mutations are often at the center of new therapies for cancer, but they can be very different in each tumor. “Mutations are random. If you look at one patient’s tumor
and compare it to another patient’s, it would be highly unlikely that there will be a match.
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