Cancer Science

Homing in to destroy – Targeted Cancer therapies and the new approach to cancer treatment

One of the most dreaded and most prominent modern threats is Cancer, affecting 1 in 3 people and causing a quarter of all deaths in 2014. As a result, the promising future of cancer therapeutics is one that is invested in by many across the globe. The current treatments, with their detrimental toxic side effects, have created a drive to develop better specific treatments. Development is in the form of targeted Immuno and Chemotherapy. These are designed specifically for the patient, making them more efficient and often more successful. When used in combination with other treatments, these therapies can yield results that no other treatment could, with the ability to match the combination of treatments to the patient’s cancerous DNA (ctDNA). An example of this in the field of targeted immunotherapy is the promising ‘cocktail’ treatment of microbiome peptides and checkpoint inhibitors, delivered in the form of a vaccine. Microbiome peptides have been found to mimic antigens on the surface of tumors, making them identifiable to the immune system. When used in combination with checkpoint inhibitors (which block the tumor cells from hiding from the Immune system) the ‘cocktail’ vaccine produces a strong Immune response against the tumor, thus allowing the patient’s immune system to ‘home in to destroy’. Personalised, targeted treatments are the future of cancer therapeutics, with long-term remission increasingly within our reach.

Posted 20/12/24