Duke researchers say they have a breakthrough in treating brain cancer (treatment, detect)

[cjseliga]

Duke researchers say they have a breakthrough in treating brain cancer

Duke is among a number of leading research institutions nationwide making progress in developing cancer treatments that are expected to replace current treatment methods, which have toxic side effects and uncertain results. Broadly classified as immunotherapies, the new wave of treatments create customized medications using the patient’s own cells, or train the patient’s immune system to detect cancer, which is difficult to recognize by disease-hunting defender cells because cancer is an extension of the patient’s body, not a foreign invader.

Moderator cut: too long a quote, 1-2 sentences and link.

[bigbear99]

This is the Duke Medical School PR department in high gear. I really liked this sentence "Their first clinical trial, began in 2012, was designed to show the treatment is safe, and was tested on about 60 patients to determine a safe dose, but it did not prevent all the enrolled patients from succumbing to brain cancer." That's typically the way with these things.

The problem to date with these approaches has been durability of response since the cancer cells are rapidly mutating.