Researchers have found that the neurodevelopmental disorder Costello syndrome may be due to deregulated signaling to neurons by a supporting cell type, the astrocyte. The findings suggest that modulating the communication between astrocytes and neurons could be an approach to treating the disorder.

Much of the excitement in immuno-oncology has been focused on killer T cells and dendritic cells. But, Edgar Engleman told BioWorld Today, "the immune system is designed to work as a team. . . . There is cooperation among the different branches of the armed services, as it were."

Two concurrently published papers showed yesterday that patients with the T790M resistance mutation responded at high rates to either rociletinib (CO-1686, Clovis Oncology Inc.) or AZD9291 (mereletinib, Astrazeneca plc).

Two independent teams of scientists have described microtechnologies that could allow the testing of multiple drugs and drug combinations directly within tumors – both xenografted tumors in animals and tumors that are still within the patients themselves.

PHILADELPHIA – If the 2015 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) had a tag line, it should probably be "Blocking PD-1 works."

PHILADELPHIA – Patients treated with Merck & Co Inc.'s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) had better outcomes than could be achieved with their respective standards of care in melanoma and lung cancer trials. Results were presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Researchers and executives are gearing up for the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which will be held in Philadelphia from April 18 - 22, where it's safe to say immuno-oncology will continue to rule the roost. Beyond the big data presentations of checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T cells themselves, among the most urgent question is how to help more patients realize the promise of immuno-oncology.

The results of a new study call into question the practice of sequencing patient's tumors without directly comparing the sequence data to the individual patient's healthy genome.