Drug Discovery and Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Study: Tumor Immune Cells Could Aid Cancer Therapies

By University of Edinburgh | November 7, 2018

A pioneering technique designed to spot differences between immune cells in tumors could speed the development of cancer treatments, research suggests.

Scientists say the approach could be used to help doctors choose the best treatments for individual patients, and predict which tumors are likely to respond to a particular therapy.

It could help target the use of immunotherapy – a new form of treatment that uses the body’s own defences to tackle cancer. This therapy has shown great promise in recent years, but identifying which patients will respond best is a challenge for doctors.

The new approach – based on gene analysis – makes it easier to spot the range of immune cells present in a tumour. These cells could help the body detect and kill cancer when activated by certain drugs, scientists say.

Traditional treatments, such as radiology, do not discriminate between cell types and attack both cancerous and healthy cells, often leading to side effects.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh analyzed genes from anonymized medical databases of thousands of tumors to identify those associated with immune cells. This allowed them to quickly detect immune cells in a tumor based on their genetic code, even when they were mixed in with harmful cancerous cells and normal cells. They say that this resource – called ImSig – paints the best picture of tumors to date and will allow scientists to study how certain immune cell types affect cancer growth.

In the future, this could help doctors decide which patients are most likely to respond to immunotherapy.


Filed Under: Oncology

 

Related Articles Read More >

Labcorp widens precision oncology toolkit, aims to speed drug-trial enrollment
AP Biosciences charts course for safer CD137 bispecifics with its T-cube platform
Cellares and UW-Madison partner to automate manufacturing for novel solid tumor CAR-T
Why smaller, simpler molecular glues are gaining attention in drug discovery
“ddd
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in the drug discovery and development industry.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Drug Discovery and Development
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • Medtech100 Index
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • R&D World
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Drug Discovery & Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE