HEALTH AND WELLNESS
attack the cancer.
Since then, we've learned much more about the roles these microorganisms play in the context of cancer immunotherapy. In 2015, CRI postdoctoral fellow Dr. Leticia Corrales, while working in the lab of the University of Chicago's Dr. Thomas F. Gajewski - a member of CRI's Scientific Advisory Council - discovered that mice with "good" bacteria were better protected against tumor development and responded much better to checkpoint immunotherapy. Subsequent work by Dr. Gajewski showed that this same connection exists in human cancer patients too, spurring a number of bacteria-based prognostic and therapeutic approaches being evaluated right now.
Looking to the Future
Over the past 65 years, CRI has
focused on cancer research with one goal in mind: to unleash the immune system's power to cure all cancers. "Many people living with cancer today have been able to live longer, healthier lives thanks to the power of immunotherapy and we're now seeing decades of research come to fruition," said Dr. Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, chief executive officer and director of scientific affairs at the Cancer Research Institute. "We're thrilled to have been a major part of the progress made to date, but more research needs to be done and that's why those of us at the Cancer Research Institute will continue to fund the best, most promising scientists in cancer immunotherapy research until all cancer patients benefit from these treatments."
For more information on CRI's impact on some of the most groundbreaking advances in cancer immunotherapy research, visit cancerresearch.org/breakthroughs.