The effectiveness of immunotherapy reaches 70% in some types of cancer

The V International Symposium on Cancer Onco-Immunology and Immunotherapy, organized by the IIS Aragón, had more than 200 attendees under the scientific direction of Antonio Antón and Alberto Anel, professors at the University of Zaragoza, and researchers at the IIS Aragón

In the midst of the boiling immunotherapy, the need to analyze how this has revolutionized the cancer treatment In the last 10 years it is a necessity. It is for this reason that this Tuesday it took place in the caixaforum from Zaragoza V International Symposium on Cancer Onco-Immunology and ImmunotherapyOrganized by the Aragon Health Research Institute. And it is that, with a 70% effective in some types of cancer, its contribution to better cancer treatment will increase in the future.

«Immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of cancer for about ten years and It is almost at the same level as chemotherapy. Is giving hope to many cancer patients that they didn't have them before," acknowledges one of the organizers of the congress and professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Zaragoza, Alberto Anel, and researcher at the IIS Aragón.

Unlike chemotherapy, which acts with chemical compounds quite foreign to the human body itself, Anel points out, immunotherapy «seeks to activate the patient's immune system so that he himself is the one to end the cancer or use cells or substances such as antibodies produced by the immune system to fight against it.

With this type of treatments what we are seeing are very promising results and that they are even already a reality. «Between 30% and 50% of the patients we treat are alive and with the disease controlled after three to five years.. Until relatively recently that was unthinkable. He lung cancer There were practically no survivors after five years and right now there are some situations where we are above 50%," says the head of the Medical Oncology service at the Miguel Servet Hospital. Antonio Anton.

WORKING DAY

The scientific day has included a attendance of more than 200 people. Among others, the Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi, a scientist of great international prestige in the field of cell death and its implications in the treatment of cancer using immunotherapy, or Dr. Joaquim Bellmunt which has exposed a clinical trial carried out on bladder cancer patients.

Framed in the second edition of the Master's Degree in Tumor Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy at the UZ, the symposium also featured the presentation of communications and posters by young researchers in training.

Source: Aragón digital