According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 650,000 cancer patients receive chemotherapy in the United States annually.
Yet with this treatment, patients become more susceptible to infections, thanks to a weakened immune system. Hence the need for a class of experimental drugs that helps the immune system to fight cancer too. This set of drugs are currently undergoing clinical trials, according to a new study published in Cell.
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Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that a protein known as Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) is produced in larger quantities in tumors. This is also the reason why cancer cells are protected from immune system attacks. So, this drug, known as a FAK inhibitor, does not allow that to happen thus enabling the immune system to destroy these cancer cells.
In explaining the effectiveness, lead author Dr. Alan Serrels reveals, “FAK is hijacked by cancer cells to protect them from the immune system. This exciting research reveals that by blocking FAK, we’ve now found a promising new way to help the immune system recognize the cancer and fight it.”
He also goes on to mention that while being in clinical trials at this point, the FAK inhibitor can also play an important role in being a supplement for existing immunotherapy treatments.
Alternatively, another immunotherapy study has found that adding aspirin to the treatment betters the outcome. This is because the COX inhibitors stop the production of prostaglandin E2 and triggers the immune system to fight cancer cells.