Health
Immunotherapy Breakthrough for Advanced Bladder Cancer
The promising results of a phase 1 immunotherapy trial marks the first major advance in the treatment of advanced bladder cancer for 30 years. (Courtesy of Medical News Today)
(Medical News Today) – The result marks the first major advance in the treatment of advanced bladder cancer for 30 years, note the researchers, who report their findings in the journal Nature.
Lead author Dr. Tom Powles, consultant medical oncologist at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London in the UK, says:
“This study is a hugely exciting step forward in the search for alternative advanced bladder cancer treatment. For decades chemotherapy has been the only option, with a poor outcome and many patients too ill to cope with it.”
He and his colleagues conducted a trial of Roche’s experimental cancer immunotherapy drug MPDL3280A – an antibody that blocks PD-L1 – a protein that is believed to help cancer cells evade immune detection.
