Is the cure for cancer… the bench team?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Immunotherapy rallies our defenses against tumors. But sometimes, the defense gets… tired. Older cells release inflammatory signals that weaken immune response. Can we replace them with a “second string?”
Get in the game, Niu Liu and team from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital. They used immunotherapy to clear out old cells in mouse tumors. And? Tumor growth slowed to a crawl.
These wins sparked clinical trials for head and neck cancers.
Cancer was either reduced or halted in thirty-three percent of patients! That’s more than double the effects of immunotherapy alone!
Even Tom Brady couldn’t hang forever – time for new stars and immunity to shine!
Reference: Liu, N., Wu, J., Deng, E., Zhong, J., Wei, B., Cai, T., … & Fan, S. (2025). Immunotherapy and senolytics in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: phase 2 trial results. Nature Medicine, 1-15.