The elderly react well to immunotherapy despite age -related immune system differences, researchers find

Older adults with cancer react as well as younger patients to immune control point inhibitors despite age -related immune system differences, according to a study carried out by researchers from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg ~ Kimmel for Cancer Immunothes, and Johns Hopkins.

Most new diagnoses of solid tumor cancer occur in people aged 65 or over, and overall, these patients have worse cancer treatment results than their peer young people. The reasons for these differences are not entirely clear.

Age changes that make the immune system less efficient could make patients’ immune systems to combat cancer cells. New system’s immune stenology therapies can help, but questions remain on the question of whether age -related immune changes could blunt the effects of drugs.

The new study, published in Nature communicationsMeeting proof that inhibitors of wild immune control points are effective between age groups despite age -related changes in the immune response. The study identifies certain key differences in the immune response to these drugs in older patients compared to the youngest who can one day help clinicians to personalize therapies more and to strengthen the success of treatment.

“Older patients do just as well, sometimes better, than younger patients with immunotherapy treatments,” explains the main author Daniel Zabransky, MD, PH.D., assistant professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“We have found clues on the important routes that meditate on the immunotherapy’s immune system response in younger and older patients who can help us improve the next generation of therapies or allow us to use current therapies in all patients.”

The study examined the immune cells and the proteins they released called cytokines in the blood of approximately 100 patients treated with immune control point inhibitors. About half of the patients were 65 years old or over. The two groups benefited from therapy equally, but there were differences in their immune responses and their immune cells.

For example, T cells are cells that help destroy damaged cells, bacteria or viruses. In response to an infection or another threat, groups of T cells specialize in the elimination of this particular enemy.

Some T cells are considered to be “inexperienced” and remain pending to meet future threats. These inexperienced T cells in older patients looked like “they had been around the block,” said Zabransky, suggesting that they can be less ready to respond to threats such as additional cancer such as inhibitors from the immune control point. These differences can make immune control point inhibitors even more beneficial for elderly patients.

Then, Zabransky and his team want to examine the differences in immune cells found inside tumors and compare them between age groups to see how they react to immunotherapy. They hope that by understanding age -related differences in immune responses to cancer therapies, they can either develop new therapies against cancer, better suited to the needs of different age groups, or find new ways to combine existing treatments to improve care.

It is imperative, he notes, to find ways to stimulate the effectiveness of therapy in older patients without triggering toxicities or other adverse events that can lead to bad results.

“At present, we give the same way that their age can influence the way the immune system can recognize cancer cells,” he said.

“Better understanding the age -related changes that we all live during our lifespan, we hope to identify new strategies and further personalize our therapies according to these important factors in terms of patients.”