[jreed91]

I'm guessing this just controls the tumors and prolongs their life? That is great but most people have serious side effects or the cancer becomes immune to these drugs. But we are headed in the right direction. My father passed away from melanoma a year ago. Since I have a high chance of getting this later in life, I'm happy that we are advancing this quickly.

[leecho0]

I haven't read the paper, but according to the article, "The treatment, known as immunotherapy, uses the body's immune system to attack cancerous cells." Rather than trying to kill the cancerous cells, the drugs allow your body to attack the tumors.

To give some background, your own body already tries to kill cancerous cells through cytotoxic t cells. The tumors that get serious are the ones that escape the immune system. However, strengthening the immune system has its own problems, since it can attack your own cells (autoimmune diseases), or cause other problems (like Crohn's disease).

So I'd imagine the cancer cells probably won't get immunity to the drugs, but other serious side effects could come from the treatment.

[kolev]

It's a vicious circle as doesn't the Crohn's disease itself lead to suppressing the immune system?