New Discoveries and Honors in Cancer Research

Read the latest cancer research and recognition from the members of the Damon Runyon scientific circle.
March 7, 2012
Yervoy and radiation may be promising new treatment approach

Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08) of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues, reported the results of a unique single-patient study, in which a melanoma patient was treated with the immunotherapeutic Yervoy in combination with local radiation to the site of one tumor.  Metastatic tumors all over the body disappeared. This phenomenon, called the abscopal effect, occurs only rarely; researchers believe that it occurs because radiation may help stimulate the immune system to fight cancer. The combination of Yervoy and radiation may be a promising approach for the treatment of melanoma as well as prostate cancer. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.