Immunotherapy: a promising alternative

In brief  (20 seconds of reading) : Since 2004, Sophie Lucas, a researcher at the UCLouvain de Duve Institute, has been studying the immune responses that cancer patients can develop against their own tumour She is currently testing a new anti-cancer drug that would strengthen such immune responses This research won the prestigious Academy of Medicine GSK Award, which recognises work in the fields of vaccinology and immunology Sophie Lucas , a researcher at the UCLouvain de Duve Institute , studies the immune responses that cancer patients can develop against their own tumour. 'In the long run,' Prof. Lucas says, 'the goal is to try to manipulate immune responses to make them more effective and enable the patient to reject tumour cells .' This would be an incredible breakthrough in the field of immunotherapy, which is itself an ideal alternative to cancer therapies that target tumour cells, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Immunotherapy targets immune system cells in order to stimulate them to turn against the patient's tumour and destroy it. Prof. Lucas's major breakthrough? Developing a new drug that is now being tested in cancer patients for targeting their immune system. To achieve this result, the UCLouvain team made major discoveries over the past ten years. The first step: 'In 2004, we wondered whether certain cells of the immune system could play a negative role in cancer patients', Prof. Lucas explains. The team looked at regulatory T cells (Tregs), which can be very toxic to cancer patients : they regulate the immune system so much that they decrease the efficiency of immune cells (which are supposed to kill cancer cells).