Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

The immune system is one of the most powerful tools we have in the fight against cancer, but sometimes it needs a little extra help. In a new study, researchers have developed a new way to summon a wider variety of immune cells to target tumors.

A study carried out at Australia’s Peter Mac Cancer Centre has provided a possible new pathway forward in treating a host of diseases, revealing that drugs under development to treat cancer could be altered to temper inflammation in a powerful way.

Two new diagnostic techniques hope to help catch the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer. One study measures gene expression in tumors to predict disease severity, while another details a new imaging technique to detect metastatic disease.

Exactly how do immune cells avoid wiping themselves out while attacking invaders? Researchers at Peter Mac and UCL have now found that they create a tough shield around themselves, and this discovery could lead to new cancer therapies.

New research into CAR-T cell therapy has revealed crucial mechanisms that could help the immunotherapy technique, which is currently only effective against blood cancers, be adapted for the treatment of brain tumors and other forms of solid cancers.

Researchers from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, have found that a N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), a common solvent used in a wide array of industrial and medical products, has cancer-fighting properties.