For many years, the focus of cancer treatment has been to kill or destroy cancer cells with chemotherapy and radiation. But new research from the Duke Cancer Institute is shifting how doctors view cancer and approach treatment decisions.
Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes, a medical oncologist at Duke Health, talks to Dr. Nicholas DeVito, a Duke researcher and immunologist who treats colon and other gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. His research suggests that for an increasing number of GI cancers, including colorectal cancer, certain types of immunotherapies - namely checkpoint inhibitors - may one day replace harsh cancer treatments and their toxic side effects as first-line therapy.
A clinical trial at Duke Health demonstrates the potential of immunotherapy by itself as the initial treatment for patients with the most common type of colorectal cancer, a disease in which immunotherapy was previously believed to be unhelpful.
