New immunotherapy drugs are showing significant and extended effectiveness against a broadening range of cancers, including rare and intractable tumors often caused by viruses. Researchers say these advances suggest the treatment approach is poised to become a critical part of the nation’s anti-cancer strategy. Scientists reported on two new studies showing that the medications, which marshal the body’s own immune defenses, are now having some effect against recurrent, difficult-to-treat head and neck cancer and an extremely lethal skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma. The diseases can be caused by viruses as well as DNA mutations, and the data show that the drugs help the immune system to recognize and attack cancers resulting from either cause. The new studies appear to be the first to find that "virus-driven cancers can be amenable to treatment by immunotherapy." The latest findings, as well as hundreds of ongoing clinical trials across the country, suggest that immunotherapy could be beneficial for more than two dozen kinds of cancer — and maybe many more. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...through-cancer-therapy-shows-growing-promise/
I know someone who received this form of treatment. The downside was that each injection cost around ten grand.
There are also some other insanely expensive therapies. Still I'm glad to see the news, cancer is one of the biggest killers these days. Every third person falls ill with cancer in their lifetime, and roughly every second of them dies from it.
