Using new molecules that block an immune checkpoint, researchers showed they could stimulate a strong anti-tumor immune response.

If gut bacteria are too similar to the protective layer of nerves, they can misdirect the immune system and cause it to attack its own nervous system. This mechanism can accelerate the progression of multiple sclerosis, as researchers at the University of Basel have shown in trials with mice. However, their results also open up opportunities for treatments that make use of the microbiome.

In a new nationwide study published in The Lancet that included Mayo Clinic, investigators found that patients with oropharyngeal cancer can live longer with fewer side effects if treated with proton beam radiation therapy.

The first-in-human clinical phase I trial assessing the feasibility and safety of WDVAX, an immunostimulatory biomaterial-based cancer vaccine, in a cohort of 21 patients with stage 4 metastatic melanoma, was concluded with positive outcomes that encourage future vaccine developments and trials to test them in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies.