One-time treatment allows the tumors throughout the body to disappear, and even completely relieve them for more than 10 years! It has become a reality to use your own immune cells to clear tumors. Five new immunotherapy methods in 2025 bring hope of healing to patients around the world!
20 years ago, cancer patients had the only choice of "prescribe a big surgery, illuminate, and take medicine", and the pain and side effects were like shadows. Today, immunotherapy has become a "super rising star" in the field of anti-cancer. Unlike the traditional treatment of "carpet bombing", it is like a precisely guided missile that activates the human immune system to actively recognize and annihilate cancer cells, with amazing efficacy and fewer side effects. From immune checkpoint inhibitors to various cell therapies, more and more patients are reborn in desperate situations, making "curing cancer" no longer a distant dream! In 2025, four new immunotherapy methods will make a major debut and are rewriting the global cancer treatment landscape. A medical revolution that subverts cognition is taking place - using your own immune cells as a "anti-cancer special forces" can not only make the tumors in the body disappear, but also achieve complete relief for up to 10 years!
一、Complete relief lasts for up to 13 years! CAR-T therapy creates a miracle of "one-injection healing"
In the field of global cancer cell immunotherapy, CAR-T therapy is undoubtedly the leader. Because the successful development of CAR-T therapy has created a miracle of "curing" cancer, and has also allowed scientists to see the powerful anti-cancer power based on T cells.
CAR-T, the full name is "chimeric antigen receptor-T cell" immunotherapy. The T in CAR-T refers to the immune cells found in everyone’s body—killer T cells. This therapy extracts T cells that are insufficient in lethality and quantity in the patient's body, and uses advanced genetic engineering technology to load the T cells with a "navigation head" that can accurately identify cancer cells. At the same time, the T cells with a "GPS navigation head" are amplified into hundreds of millions of immune troops with doubled combat effectiveness. These cells are returned to the patient's body. Once they encounter tumor cells, they will be activated and re-amplified, exerting their great specific killing power and killing tumors.
This picture vividly demonstrates the working principle of CAR-T therapy: cell engineering technology genetically edits killer T cells to produce a protein called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) on the surface of the T cells. This picture shows CAR, which is inserted on the T cell membrane. The small gray-orange missile-like device outside the cell is the tumor antigen recognition area, and the blue sausage inside the cell is the stimulation signal area. When the small missile equipped with "GPS" navigation finds the antigen on the surface of the cancer cell and binds to it, the stimulation area receives the signal and activates the killing mode to accurately eliminate the cancer cells.
So far, the FDA has approved a total of 6 CAR-T therapies, and China has also launched 6 CAR-T products. A total of 11 CAR-T therapies have been approved globally (Cedargene was approved in China and the United States respectively)!
Currently, many patients around the world have been cured by CAR-T therapy. The first batch of patients in the world to receive CAR-T therapy were 30 patients with extremely advanced leukemia who had no clinical treatment options. Their survival time was less than half a year. They tried CAR-T therapy with the mentality of treating a dead horse as a living horse. As a result, these first crab eaters shocked the world! The cancer cells of 27 patients completely disappeared after treatment. In 20 patients, no cancer cells were still found in the body after reexamination six months later. Two of them have been in remission for more than 13 years! This is the longest response time after CAR-T treatment currently known!
The most familiar thing for everyone is Emily Whitehead, the world's first leukemia child who has now become the spokesperson of CAR-T therapy, who has been cured by CAR-T cell immunotherapy. Recently, he announced to the world on social media: "13 years cancer free yesterday + celebrated being 20 today (Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of cancer recovery, and today celebrated its 20th birthday!)" to celebrate a new chapter in life.
For decades, TILs therapy has been hailed as an immunotherapeutic with healing potential in the field of solid tumors. After 35 years of unremitting efforts, on February 16, the world's first TIL therapy - lifileucel (LN-144), which has made all cancer patients highly anticipated, was finally approved for the treatment of advanced melanoma. This therapy opens a new era for solid tumor treatment and is of milestone significance!
Unlike other types of cellular immunotherapy that use circulating T cells in the blood, TIL treatment relies on fresh tumor tissue obtained from patients. These TILs cells have polyclonalization, which can specifically recognize a variety of neogenic antigens, individualization, highly specific, persistent, and can form immune memory after infusion. Over time, this "live" cell therapy can work continuously, and these immune cells can quickly attack when cancer cells appear again in the body.
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During the study, the researchers collected new blood samples and preserved tumor cell samples from patients who had previously participated in Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials of TIL therapy and were now cancer-free. Many patients remain cancer-free 10 years after treatment.
Can you tell that this energetic 80-year-old man was diagnosed with advanced cancer 10 years ago and his life was on the verge of death? Fortunately, in June 2014, Ms. M. received a disposable TIL cell reentertion. She experienced atrial fibrillation, rash, anemia... She persisted tenaciously. To everyone’s surprise, in October 2014, her first scan showed her tumor shrinking. In each subsequent scan, the tumor became smaller and eventually, the tumor disappeared. Now, she is undergoing scans every year and has found no signs of illness. Ms. M, 80, who is now 10 years after receiving TIL therapy, has not needed any ongoing treatment and has completely returned to her normal life and has completed many destinations on her travel list, including Rome and Istanbul.
18-75 years old, regardless of gender;
Diagnosed cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, digestive system tumors, lung cancer, etc.;
Failure of standard treatment or lack of effective treatment methods;
At least 2 lesions, the body can support minimally invasive surgery;
ECOG score 0-1 points;
Sufficient hematology and end-organ function.
TCR-T technology, namely T cell receptor (TCR) chimeric T cell technology, also known as TCR with enhanced affinity. Its purpose is to make its own killer T cells more recognizable, because the original T cells had weaker recognition ability for tumor-related antigens. Now, it enhances recognition affinity through gene modification, so that T cells attack tumor cells and achieve the effect of treating tumors.
On August 2, 2024, the world's first TCR-T cell therapy for solid tumors, afamitresgene autoleucel (afami-cel), was officially approved for marketing. The approved data shows that the overall response rate of afami-cel is 43%, of which 4.5% of patients disappeared from cancer. For patients with remission, the estimated 2-year overall survival rate (OS) is 70%, which is a huge survival breakthrough for patients with refractory sarcoma who have no previous medication available. This is the first new treatment option for synovial sarcoma in more than 10 years! At the same time, this therapy has its own well-known name - TECELRA®, which has created a new era of treatment for solid tumors and is of milestone significance!
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In addition, major international immunology teams have made major breakthroughs in the research and application of TCR-T in solid tumors!
TCR-T therapy for liver cancer: Recently, the clinical research results of the liver surgery team of Peking Union Medical College Hospital on "Using TCR-T cells to treat a patient with advanced hepatitis B-related liver cancer" were published as the cover paper of "Clinical and Molecular Hepatology", causing a sensation! It marks a major progress in TCR-T research in my country, and once again verifies the effectiveness and feasibility of TCR-T therapy in the treatment of solid tumors, bringing a new dawn to patients with solid tumors such as liver cancer!
TCR-T therapy for liver cancer: Recently, the clinical research results of the liver surgery team of Peking Union Medical College Hospital on "Using TCR-T cells to treat a patient with advanced hepatitis B-related liver cancer" were published as the cover paper of "Clinical and Molecular Hepatology", causing a sensation! It marks a major progress in TCR-T research in my country, and once again verifies the effectiveness and feasibility of TCR-T therapy in the treatment of solid tumors, bringing a new dawn to patients with solid tumors such as liver cancer!
The good news is that this international cutting-edge TCR-T therapy is undergoing clinical trials to recruit patients with liver cancer. In addition, many domestic TCR-T therapies are also undergoing clinical trials. They want to seek help from TCR-T cell therapy and other new domestic and foreign treatment technologies. If economic conditions allow, patients can first submit their medical records to the Department of Medicine of the Global Cancer Doctors Network (400-666-7998) for preliminary evaluation.
Pancreatic cancer TCR-T therapy:
A patient with advanced pancreatic cancer who had failed various treatments, after receiving a novel TCR-T therapy specifically targeting KRAS G12D mutation transduced by T cell receptor (TCR), the metastatic lesions in the body actually disappeared 72%! It brings new dawn to patients with pancreatic cancer.
TCR-T therapy for bowel cancer:
A new TCR-T therapy designed for patients' unique neoantigens of tumors, led by the team of Professor Steven A. Rosenberg of the Global Immunology Master, American Cancer Research Association, has released the interim data research results of the blockbuster Phase 2 trial. It was published in the top international medical journal "Natural Medicine", which caused a huge sensation and also lit new hope for colorectal cancer patients around the world!
In this trial, a total of 7 patients with colorectal cancer with MMR (normal mismatch repair function) were enrolled, and three experienced partial responses, including regression of liver, lung and lymph node metastasis, with a duration of 4 to 7 months. And overall, treatment is well tolerated.
In the field of cancer treatment, a revolutionary change is quietly brewing. Many scientists firmly believe that cancer vaccines are expected to become the "next major breakthrough" to rewrite the history of cancer treatment. Research in this field has reached a critical turning point, and it is expected that a number of cancer vaccines will be released in the next five years. Looking back at the development of cancer vaccines, it is full of challenges. In 2010, Provenge, the first cancer treatment vaccine, was approved in the United States for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. The vaccine requires the patient's autoimmune cells to be processed in the laboratory before returning to the body. Since then, therapeutic vaccines for early stage bladder cancer and advanced stage melanoma have also appeared one after another. Although these past explorations have failed many times, they have accumulated valuable experience for subsequent research.
With the deepening of medical research, scientists have an unprecedented clear understanding of the mechanism by which cancer evades the human immune system. Unlike vaccines traditionally used to prevent diseases, cancer vaccines are dedicated to shrinking tumors and curbing cancer recurrence. Their research scope covers many common cancer types such as breast cancer and lung cancer.
Cancer vaccines, like other immunotherapies, activate and strengthen the immune system so that it can accurately identify and destroy cancer cells. Some innovative treatments also use mRNA technology, which was originally developed for cancer treatment and has shined in the new coronavirus vaccine. Dr. Nora Disis of the Cancer Vaccine Institute at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle explained that the core of the function of cancer vaccines is to teach T cells in the immune system to recognize the threat of cancer. Once T cells are "trained and on duty", they are like having "two feet", able to shuttle through blood vessels, penetrate deep into tissues, and actively search for and eliminate cancer cells.
In 2007, Ms. J, who had always been healthy, suddenly found two lumps in her groin. After going to the hospital for a detailed examination, she turned out to be ovarian cancer and was already stage IV. She thought that her life, who was only 34 years old, had entered the countdown, so she made a will and gave her most cherished necklace to her best friend. Fortunately, she bravely participated in an ovarian cancer vaccine trial on Merther Island, Washington, and became the first patient to receive vaccine treatment to dare to "take crabs". To everyone's shock, the signs of her cancer completely disappeared after treatment and returned to normal life. Now, she is 50 years old and still wears that necklace.
In 2025, cancer vaccine research and development is booming around the world, and exciting clinical data have been obtained, which has set off a new wave of tumor immunotherapy. If the cancer vaccine is successfully developed, it can awaken our immune system to re-identify and kill cancer cells after injection, and at the same time generate an immune memory response, allowing the immune system to continue to protect us in the next ten years or even a lifetime. Whenever cancer cells appear in the body, the immune system can automatically launch an attack to kill them before they form tumors, protecting us from recurrence!2025抗癌革命！十大癌症疫苗横空出世：一针实现"超长待机"无癌生存
文章部分转自国际肿瘤医讯
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