[mcbain]

No, immuno isn't always a second line treatment.

No you don't need to have failed other treatments before being added to a clinical trial. Quite the opposite in many cases - they have entry criteria so that they can be sure any effects (good or bad) can be linked to the trial and not from something else.

No if you got colitis from immuno, chemo won't "reset" it, but strong doses of steroids might. (We discontinued my immuno before I got to that point.)

[pazimzadeh]

> No, immuno isn't always a second line treatment.

"for the vast majority of clinical trials" is what I said

> No you don't need to have failed other treatments before being added to a clinical trial

That wasn't my experience when looking for trials for my mom's metastatic cancer, but I hope you're right.

> No if you got colitis from immuno, chemo won't "reset" it, but strong doses of steroids might.

Two things can be true at once. I didn't say it's curative (neither are steroids), but chemo drugs can be given for severe uncontrolled autoimmune disease, because they are immunosuppressive.

> We discontinued my immuno before I got to that point

Too bad, I studied it for several years and my mom was a specialist on the adaptive immune system.

[mcbain]

> That wasn't my experience

Then stop talking like you understand cancer treatment or clinical trials, because it is exactly how it works for thousands of people every year.

> Too bad

Pardon me? "Too bad" that I had recurrence of cancer and that immunotherapy was starting to cause colitis? Immunotherapy which turned out was never going to work because of the genetics of my cancer, the sequencing of which was completed thanks to one of the multiple clinical trials I'm on.

I'm sorry about your mother, but spreading your ignorance does not help other people.

[pazimzadeh]

Sorry, I thought you meant your immunology courses were discontinued.

What type of cancer were you diagnosed with?