Scientific research is responsible for this progress. Today, there are techniques other than surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Among recent advances, immunotherapy is increasingly effective on certain types of cancer. It has its roots in the discovery that tumor cells express antigens on their surface that are not found in healthy cells.
Sophie Lucas, immunologist at the De Duve Institute (UCLouvain) works on immunotherapy in her laboratory. She highlights the enormous progress made in this area: “It is known that tumor cells are accompanied by cells ‘normal’, our immune system. Immunotherapies aim to stimulate these immune cells to reject and destroy the tumor cells themselves. Thierry Boon, at the De Duve Institute, discovered in the 90s why these immunotherapies would be possible. The immune cells capable of destroying tumor cells are T lymphocytes which can function because they are able to recognize antigens, ‘molecular flags’ that distinguish tumor cells from other cells.“
Other fundamental researchers (Dr James Allison and the Professor Tasuku Honjo, Nobel Prize 2018) continued the research and discovered why antitumor T cells could not function properly in patients who had developed a tumor. There are brakes,checkpoints blockers“, which prevent these T lymphocytes from destroying tumor cells. It was these researchers who developed the first approaches to cancer immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy therefore consists of stimulating or strengthening the patient’s immune system, to stimulate the immune cells involved in the recognition and destruction of cancer. It is very effective for melanoma, certain lung or kidney cancers. It is promising for certain brain tumours.