New combination could be the key to tackling cancers

A TEAM of Newcastle University experts has discovered a new way to treat cancers that have proved hard to tackle previously.

- SAM VOLPE

The scientists, led by Dr Shoba Amarnath, have been working on treatment for metastatic skin cancers - but think there work will be applicable for a range of other kinds of the illness.

That's according to their work that has been published in the journal Nature Immunology.

The team has been working to understand why many patients did not respond to a treatment known as “immune checkpoint blockade therapy” (ICB).

The Newcastle scientists have found that this is related to the action of a protein within the immune system, and that there are already treatments which target this.