Immunotherapy used against breast cancer

(ANSA) - Rome, September 10 - Newly developed therapies could be used to induce the immune system to fight breast and ovarian cancer naturally, an Italian study has shown.
    Cancer immunotherapy, already proven effective for melanomas and lung cancer, activates the body's natural defences and "re-educates" the immune system on how to recognise cancer and destroy it.
    "Immunotherapy seems particularly promising to fight the most aggressive breast cancers," said Pierfranco Conte from the Veneto Oncology Institute which conducted the study on 400 patients.
    The new drugs use a technique that prevents cancerous cells from avoiding immune system surveillance and becoming tumours.
    They inhibit a key enzyme in repair processes that cancerous cells use.
    One of the most important discoveries is the long-term effect of the new approach.
    "The immune system becomes able to control the tumour in the long-term. Finally you can start talking of recovery," said Conte, adding that the new therapies made it more likely that women could conserve their fertility after recovering from cancer.