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EXPERTS AT NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW WAY OF TREATING SKIN CANCERS THAT HAVE SPREAD 10:00, 02 Jun 2025Updated 06:59, 03 Jun 2025 A team of Newcastle University experts have

discovered a new way to treat cancers that have proved hard to tackle previously. The scientists, led by Dr Shoba Amarnath, have been working on treatment for metastatic skin cancers - but

think their work will be applicable for a range of other kinds of the illness. That's according to their work that has been published in the journal Nature Immunology. The team has been

working to understand why many patients did not respond to a treatment known as "immune checkpoint blockade therapy" (ICB). The Newcastle scientists have found that this is

related to the action of a protein within the immune system, and that there are already treatments which target this. They believe a "combination treatment" including this would

benefit patients who have tricky-to-treat cancers. Dr Amarnath said: “Identifying this mechanism is important as it identifies patients who will not respond to single agent ICB treatment

such as anti-PD1 antibody therapy, but are most likely to benefit from the new combination therapy that we have identified, anti-CD30. "By simply adding anti-CD30 for these patients, we

can improve their response to cancer and avoid costly delays. Although our work was limited to skin cancer, we believe this new combination treatment will also benefit patients with lung,

bowel, pancreatic and other solid cancers who are currently not responding to treatment with ICB monotherapy.” Article continues below JOIN OUR WHATSAPP COMMUNITIES ChronicleLive is now on

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community Join our SAFC community Join our Great North Run community Join our shopping deals and bargains community This could make a huge difference, as - as it stands - around 60% of

cancer patients who are prescribed ICB do not respond to it, and instead it can harm them. This comes as a clinical trial in the US has shown an improvement in survival rates for people with

melanoma skin cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and does not respond to standard treatment. Article continues below Dr Amarnath added she was "very excited" by the

research - and added: "We believe targeting immune molecules and tumour growth proteins, will significantly enhance the efficacy of ICB in solid cancers." Solid cancers are those

where a tumour grows - as opposed to those affecting the blood. OUR CHRONICLELIVE DAILY NEWSLETTER IS FREE. YOU CAN SIGN UP TO RECEIVE IT HERE. It will keep you up to date with all the

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