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This cancer drug doesn't work for everyone, here's why

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Rituximab is an immunotherapy that helps the immune system eliminate diseased cells. But its effectiveness varies from patient to patient. Capucine Grandjean and her team at the Institut Pasteur have discovered how to boost the treatment's effectiveness through a novel combination.
  • #Cancer
  • #Immunothérapie
Combo thérapie

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This medication doesn’t work for everyone… but we’ve just figured out why!

Rituximab is a revolutionary immunotherapy that helps your immune system eliminate diseased B cells, the ones responsible for certain blood cancers and autoimmune diseases.

It works by marking these diseased cells, which your immune system’s “Pac-Man”-like cells (macrophages) can then devour.

But here’s the catch: These B cells often hide in the lymph nodes, too far away from the macrophages.
As a result, the treatment doesn’t always work.

Capucine Grandjean, a researcher at the Institut Pasteur, and her team tested a low dose of radiation therapy as a complementary treatment…

And the macrophages finally get close enough to the B cells to eliminate them! The treatment becomes effective again.

This is a major discovery that could change the lives of thousands of patients with blood cancers or autoimmune diseases.

When two treatments combine to make a difference.

(video in french, english subtitles available translated by AI)