Cancer Immunotherapy
What is Cancer Immunotherapy?
Cancer Immunotherapy is a groundbreaking new frontier in cancer treatment that helps empower patients’ own immune systems to recognize and attack cancer cells, providing new hope and critical treatment options for many patients with advanced cancers that were previously difficult to treat effectively.
Cancer immunology focuses on understanding interactions between cancer cells and the immune system, including how tumors evade or suppress anti-tumor immune responses. This knowledge aids development of immunotherapies that harness the immune system to fight cancer. Immunotherapy refers to treatments that boost the body’s natural defenses to combat cancer. Types of immunotherapies include immune checkpoint inhibitors, T-cell therapies, cancer vaccines, and adjuvant immunotherapies. These therapies help strengthen, direct, or restore the immune system’s ability to find and attack cancer cells.
NFCR IMPACTS IN CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY RESEARCH
- NFCR supports scientists to study tumor antigens and immune profiling to uncover new therapeutic targets and predict patient responses. This has expanded immunotherapy options for more cancer patients.
- NFCR supports translational research converting discoveries in cancer immunology into new treatments.
- NFCR provides funding for research into overcoming immunotherapy resistance pathways, including combination immunotherapies against advanced cancers, working to make immunotherapies effective for more patients.
NFCR-Supported Researchers Working on Cancer Immunotherapy
Avery D. Posey, Jr. Ph.D
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Courtney W. Houchen, M.D
Board of Regents of the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Rakesh K. Jain, Ph.D.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Mario L. Suvà , M.D., Ph.D.
Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School
Paul Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Lisa Coussens, Ph.D.
Oregon Health & Science University
Elana Fertig, Ph.D
Johns Hopkins University
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
John J. Letterio, M.D.
Case Western Reserve University
Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., FACP
Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)
Bert Vogelstein, M.D.
Clayton Professor of Oncology
Co-Director of the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center
The Johns Hopkins University
Jeremiah Johnson, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Suzanne L. Topalian, M.D
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Paul Nghiem, M.D., Ph.D
University of Washington
