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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Fighting off cancer requires the concerted efforts of immune molecules throughout the body, rather than just in the tumor itself, according to a new study of laboratory mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The finding helps settle an ongoing dispute among clinicians as to whether systemic, or whole-body responses, are as important as a robust response by immune cells in the tumor itself. The study may help clinicians understand why some people with cancer respond favorably to cancer immunotherapy, while others experience little or no benefit. It also suggests ways that the effectiveness of ongoing therapies could be quickly and easily monitored.

[...] The researchers compared the immune responses of a special group of laboratory mice engineered to spontaneously develop triple-negative breast cancers. These cancers are resistant to a type of immunotherapy known as checkpoint blockade. Recently, however, Engleman and his colleagues showed that they could stimulate a successful immune response and eradicate tumors in the animals with a two-pronged approach that incorporated both a tumor-binding antibody and molecules that activated a type of immune cell called a dendritic cell.

[...] The researchers found that in animals treated with the effective, two-pronged approach, the prevalence of immune cells -- including macrophages, dendritic cells and T cells -- in the tumor itself increased dramatically within three days of treatment, during a period known as "priming." These cells also divided more rapidly. In contrast, the tumors of the animals receiving the ineffective therapy, checkpoint blockade, displayed no such increase in prevalence or proliferation.

Journal Reference:
Matthew H. Spitzer, et al. Systemic Immunity Is Required for Effective Cancer Immunotherapy. Cell, 2017; DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.12.022

Original Submission