Lowering cholesterol improves cancer-fighting immunotherapy

A new study has found that when cholesterol levels are reduced, cancer immunotherapy becomes more effective. The findings offer a simple way to improve this fledgling technology.

Immunotherapy is a fairly new but successful method of treating cancer. It uses the body's own immune system to fight cancerous cells.

Scientists are currently investigating a range of immunotherapies that use a variety of tactics.

Some types work to enhance the body's natural immune response against cancer cells, and this is known as passive immunization.

Other versions actively direct the immune system to attack specific proteins on cancer cells, and these are called active immunotherapies.

One type of passive immunization — adoptive T cell transfer — involves engineering T cells to home in on a specific cancer type before transplanting them into the patient.

Boosting immunotherapy

Adoptive T cell transfer is still a relatively new technology. In fact, the first two procedures of this type to be used in the United States were only approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017.

As such, scientists are still working out how to enhance the therapy and make it as effective as possible. For instance, researchers are currently investigating the use of different methods to transplant the T cells, as well as how combining the therapy with other drugs might improve outcomes.