The cancer end game: find, seek, capture
A leukemia cell (green in this false-color fluorescence microscopy video) evades being eaten by an immune cell (blue) by constantly moving. Instead of engulfing the cancer cell, the immune cell can only nibble at its edges.
Dewi Nurmalasari and Brandon Scott
By Susanna Camp
Cancer cells are notoriously wily. They know how to hide, move fast and evade capture. There’s a cadre of researchers dedicated to studying unhealthy cells and the immune cells whose mission is to search and destroy them. As explained by Science News’s Meghan Rosen, a new discovery in oncology may help.
😋 The macrophage munch
Late last year, researchers studying a type of blood cancer called B cell lymphoma reported a sophisticated cellular bait-and-switch. The team attached markers to cancer cells to facilitate their detection by macrophages (immune cells that eat intruders, including cancer cells). Eventually, however, the macrophages ate the markers away, returning the malignant cells to their state of invisibility. More critically, once cloaked, the cells demonstrated high motility, rapidly relocating to evade the immune system’s reach. While immunotherapies — a relatively new addition to physicians’ anticancer arsenal — focus on detection and destruction, this newfound motility suggests a more advanced dynamic at play. The researchers concluded that marking the target is only the first step — the next generation of oncology must focus on preventing cancer cells’ escape.
🏋️♀️ Immunotherapy heavyweights
This discovery is likely to impact several big players in cancer treatment development. Let’s look at some of the best known:
Two companies hold the majority of the market for PD-1 protein cancer immunotherapies. Oncologists use these drugs to treat melanoma, lung, head/neck, kidney, esophageal and other cancers. The therapies block proteins that cancer cells use to hide from immune cells. Once the immune system can spot the cancer, specialized immune cells called T cells can find and destroy it, with help from other immune cells including macrophages.
- Merck’s (NYSE: MRK) Keytruda leads in total sales, partly due to its extensive approvals in numerous cancers (over 40 indications), and earned Merck over $25 billion in 2024. The company faces a “patent cliff” toward the end of the decade when its primary patent protection is set to expire. Merck has filed numerous secondary patents and is developing new versions of the drug, potentially extending exclusivity to 2036.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) Opdivo is Keytruda’s closest competitor, widely known for its treatment of advanced melanoma and renal cell carcinoma and leveraging combination oncology regimens. They are surely keeping an eye to the patent cliff on Merck’s horizon. Opdivo generated over $9 billion in sales in 2024.
We can’t wait to see what’s next in immunology innovation.
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