A Salem, Oregon-based physician board-certified in oncology, hematology, and internal medicine, Natasha Tiffany, MD, serves as an affiliate assistant professor at Oregon Health Sciences University. In addition, Natasha Tiffany, MD, is a physician partner with Oregon Oncology Specialists of Salem, Oregon, where she provides personalized treatments for patients with cancer.
Researchers at the University of Lisbon and Tel Aviv University are pushing the envelope of cancer immunotherapy with a cheaper and more efficient alternative to existing antibody-based cancer immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is the medical term for a treatment that focuses on optimizing the immune system or altering how it works to combat a disease. Existing antibody-based immunotherapy treatments for some cancers work on cancers attributed to the PD-L1 protein. Cancer cells with the PD-L1 gene create antibodies that render white blood cells (disease-fighting blood cells of the immune system) useless against cancer. With PD-L1 antigens (proteins), cancer cells circumvent the disease-fighting mechanism of the natural immune system. Antibody-based immunotherapy was developed to combat this problem. Antibody immunotherapy restores the immune system's ability to detect cancer cells by blocking the PD-L1 mechanism of action. A major problem with antibody immunotherapy for cancer is cost. They are typically expensive to make. According to a report on SciTechDaily.com, one year of immunotherapy treatment for cancer used to cost roughly $200,000 per patient. Another significant issue is that antibodies (the immunotherapy agents) are large molecules and can only gain entry into some cells (meaning they are not universally applicable for all cancers). The international researchers from Tel Aviv University and the University of Lisbon address the issues above with their synthetic alternative to cancer immunotherapy. According to the researchers, the novel therapy (a small synthetic molecule) is much cheaper. It can enter different cancer and white blood cells due to its relatively smaller size than antibodies. The therapy has demonstrated remarkable effects in trials involving mammals engineered to exhibit human-like immune systems. The researchers also reported that the novel therapy could be used orally, mitigating the need for IV administration.
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AuthorNatasha Tiffany, MD, is a physician, educator, and research scientist currently working in Oregon. A Partner and Physician in a private practice located in the state’s capital city of Salem, Dr. Tiffany teaches at her alma mater, Oregon Health & Science University, where she is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Hematology and Medical Oncology Division. Archives
October 2019
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