Treating cancer, one person at a time

Cancer cells use different strategies to grow and metastasize. As we learn more about how these strategies vary among individuals, cancer therapy is becoming individualized. Most cancers are detected and eliminated by the immune system, long before they cause symptoms. However, cancer fights back, by blocking the immune system’s ability to recognize it. Recently, a novel type of therapy, called "immune checkpoint blockade," is showing unprecedented success in several cancer types. In this talk I will review what we have learned about this new therapy, by a combination of data analysis, laboratory investigation and clinical testing. You will learn how the immune system identifies cancerous cells, how some cancers block immune surveillance and how we can target this immune-blockade.