Immuno-Oncology

At MCW, researchers are investigating how immune cells detect and respond to cancer and how tumors create barriers to avoid detection. By understanding these interactions, scientists are designing therapies that strengthen the immune system's ability to find and attack cancer, providing new options for patients with cancers that have been historically difficult to treat.

One of the most promising approaches is CAR T-cell therapy, where a patient's own T cells are engineered to better recognize and attack cancer. Traditional CAR T cells are programmed to target a single protein on cancer cells, which has shown remarkable success in certain blood cancers. However, cancer sometimes evades these therapies by losing or altering that single target. MCW investigators are advancing next-generation dual-targeted CAR T therapies, designed to recognize two distinct proteins on cancer cells at once. This dual targeting helps prevent immune escape and improves overall treatment effectiveness.

Solid tumors—including breast, lung, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers—present unique challenges for immunotherapy. Unlike blood cancers, immune cells often struggle to reach and stay active in these tumors. Solid tumors send mixed signals and create environments that suppress or confuse immune cells, limiting the effectiveness of existing treatments. MCW researchers are developing innovative strategies to overcome these barriers, including ways to enhance immune cell trafficking and persistence within tumors, and to reprogram the tumor microenvironment so it supports—rather than suppresses—immune attack. 

Cancer immunotherapy represents one of the most exciting frontiers in cancer medicine because it shifts the focus from simply targeting tumors to empowering a patient's own immune system to play a central role in treatment. By “releasing the breaks” that tumors put on immune cells, these therapies offer the promise of durable responses and, in some cases, long-term remission previously unimaginable.