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Current research into immunotherapies

Saving lives through research

From finding new ways to galvanise the immune system to developing new immunotherapy drugs, we're working to get new, effective treatments to patients. Below are some examples of what our researchers are doing right now.

Our current researchers

Improving treatment for skin cancer

In London, Dr Masahiro Ono is looking at the roles played by our immune cells in response to melanoma, the most common type of skin cancer. He’s exploring ways to activate immune cells, to see if he can make immunotherapy more successful at treating cancer and reduce the side effects.

This research could help make immunotherapy treatments kinder and more effective for people with melanoma, so that more people can survive their disease.

Running clinical trials

In Southampton, Professor Simon Crabb is leading a clinical trial called AURORA to test immunotherapy in a rare type of cancer called urinary tract squamous cell carcinoma (UTSCC). The trial will determine whether the drug atezolizumab, which inhibits a molecule called PD-L1, is safe, effective and tolerable for patients with UTSCC.

Read more about AURORA

Switching the immune system back on

Professor Helen Reeves is leading a team of researchers across the UK, Italy and Spain to find new ways of treating liver cancer. Researchers in the HUNTER network are looking at the molecular clues that predict how patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer, will respond to immunotherapies. “We’ve tried to bring together the best people around the world to work out why the immune response is switched off in some patients, and hope our research will help to switch it back on."

Read more about HUNTER

Patient stories

Here from people who have experienced first-hand how our research is making a difference. The life-saving research we do wouldn’t be possible without your support.

Read stories from cancer patients

Further information

Want to find more information about our research or immunotherapies?

Find out more about clinical trials

More news about immunotherapies on Cancer News

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