Researchers at the University of Southampton have identified how new checkpoint inhibitor treatments for cancer can activate tuberculosis in some patients.
Immune therapies for cancer are transforming treatment by activating the body’s immune cells to fight off cancer. Immune checkpoints are part of the human body’s immune system that prevent damaging inflammation, and checkpoint inhibitors are drugs used in immunotherapy to permit the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells.
Just a few years ago, my aunt developed merkel ce'll cancer. The only treatment that would possibly work for her cancer was immunotherapy. Unfortunately this treatment wasn't available in Wales then. It was available in Holland where her daughter lives so she decided to try her luck there and moved in with her daughter. She was accepted on a trial there in Amsterdam and now three years later the treatment worked and she is free of cancer. If she had stayed here in Wales, she would be dead now.
Yes she was lucky she was able to go to Holland and be accepted for the treatment and she will be forever grateful for the opportunity to extend her life.
Cancer is a frightening word and effects many of us and our families. New treatments are found daily. However, Immunotherapy seems to be the way forward for cancer sufferers and I sincerely hope it becomes much more available now in the UK.
Cancer is a frightening word, for both sufferer and their family, the fright is also increased by the knowledge that 1 in 2 of us will develop it in one form or another.
Hurts breathing in on left side/lung...
Organising pneumonia - how soon do the steroids kick in?
