Basic HTML Version

|  | Table of Contents |  | View Full Version

Page 12 - The Indian EYE 062626
P. 12

    Op-Ed                                                                    JUNE 26, 2026     |  The Indian Eye 12

                   A New GPS for the Immune System:

            HOW SCIENTISTS ARE REDIRECTING

                             T CELLS TO TREAT CANCER

              The message emerging from ASCO 2026 was both hopeful and realistic. Researchers have

                  not eliminated all the roadblocks. But they are learning how to navigate around them

                                                                                                                  to use these treatments safely.
                                                                                                                      Early studies required intensive
                                                                                                                  monitoring  because  patients  could
                                                                                                                  develop  inflammatory  side  effects,
                                                                                                                  including cytokine release syndrome
                                                                                                                  and neurologic complications. Over
                                                                                                                  time, physicians learned how to re-
                                                                                                                  duce  these  risks  through  gradual
                                                                                                                  dose escalation, preventive medica-
                                                                                                                  tions,  and  careful monitoring  strat-
                    DR NILESH D MEHTA                                                                             egies. These advances are allowing
                                                                                                                  more patients to receive treatment
                 or years, immunotherapy has                                                                      in outpatient settings rather than re-
                 been one of the most exciting                                                                    quiring prolonged hospital stays.
            Fadvances in cancer treatment.
            In some patients, it has produced re-                                                                       The next challenge is
            markable and durable responses. Yet                                                                    determining which patients are
            many cancers have remained frus-                                                                            most likely to benefit.
            tratingly resistant.              Cancer has an extraordinary ability to adapt. Many patients eventually develop resistance, and   Researchers are studying tumour
                Scientists often refer to these             scientists still do not fully understand why (File photo)   markers, immune signatures, tissue
            as “immune-cold” tumours. These                                                                       testing,  circulating tumour  DNA,
            are cancers that somehow manage                                                                       and other biomarkers to better un-
            to evade meaningful immune attack.  happen efficiently. There may be too   aging responses with T-cell engagers   derstand which tumours express the
            The immune system is present. The   few immune cells within the tumour,  targeting proteins such as STEAP1   targets these therapies need. The
            soldiers exist. Yet they never seem   too few recognisable warning signals,  and PSMA, suggesting that cancers   goal is precision medicine in its tru-
            to arrive in sufficient numbers where   or too many suppressive factors that   previously thought to be beyond the   est form: matching the right patient
            they are needed most.             prevent an effective immune response.  reach of immunotherapy may not be   to the right immune strategy at the
                Imagine a city where every road                                 as unreachable as once believed.  right time.
            leading to a dangerous neighbour-   T-cell engagers offer a unique
            hood has been blocked. Patrol cars            strategy.               The potential impact extends         Even with this progress,
            are  available.  Trained  officers  are   Think of it as giving the im-  beyond simply helping immune    important questions remain.
            ready. Yet they never reach the scene   mune system a sophisticated GPS    cells locate cancer.           Cancer has an extraordinary
            because the roads have been closed,  navigation system with a dedicated   Researchers believe these thera-  ability to adapt. Many patients even-
            detoured, or hidden.              traffic controller. Instead of waiting   pies may actually help transform an   tually develop resistance, and scien-
                                              for immune cells to discover cancer   immune-cold tumour into a more   tists still do not fully understand why.
            For decades, many solid tumours   on their own, these drugs physically   immune-active, or “hot,” environ-  Understanding how tumours escape
               behaved in exactly this way.   bring a T cell directly to a cancer cell   ment. Physically drawing T cells into   these therapies may be one of the
                At the 2026 American Society   and force the two to meet. They help   the tumour may populate previously   most important challenges facing
            of  Clinical  Oncology  (ASCO)  An-  bypass some of the biological road-  quiet neighbourhoods with immune   cancer research over the next decade.
            nual Meeting, researchers discussed   blocks that cancer has spent years   activity. In essence, they are not   The message emerging from
            a  new  generation of  immunothera-  constructing.                  merely redirecting traffic. They may  ASCO 2026 was both hopeful and
            py that may help solve this problem.   This approach is generating ex-  be changing the entire landscape of   realistic. Researchers have not elimi-
            These treatments, known as T-cell   citement because it appears capable   the neighbourhood itself.   nated all the roadblocks. But they are
            engagers, are showing encouraging   of working in tumours that were     Several successful therapies   learning how to navigate around them.
            activity in cancers that have histori-  once considered poor candidates for   have helped validate this strategy.   For patients with cancers once
            cally responded poorly to traditional   immunotherapy.              Drugs such as tebentafusp-tebn  in   considered invisible to the immune
            immunotherapy.                        One example is prostate can-  uveal melanoma and tarlatamab in   system,  a  new  route  may  finally  be
                Traditional immunotherapy often   cer. Historically, prostate cancer   small  cell  lung  cancer  have  demon-  opening,  one  guided  by  a  smarter
            relies on the immune system recog-  has been viewed as an immune-cold   strated that targeted immune redi-  immune GPS and powered by the re-
            nising  cancer  and  finding  its  way  to   disease where checkpoint inhibitors   rection can produce meaningful clin-  markable ability of T cells to do what
            the tumour. In many immune-cold   have produced only limited success.  ical  benefit.  Their  success  has  also   they were designed to do: find cancer
            cancers, that process simply does not   Researchers are now seeing encour-  provided valuable lessons about how   and destroy it.

                                                                   www.TheIndianEYE.com

| 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |