Dr. Kuzel on Immunotherapy as a Targeted Approach to Cancer

Timothy M. Kuzel, MD, FACP, chief, Hematology Oncology and Cell Therapy, Rush University Medical Center, discusses the use of immunotherapy as a targeted approach to treating cancer.

Over the past few years, many new approaches and agents have been developed to treat patients with a variety of cancers, including kidney cancer, melanoma, bladder cancer, and more, according to Kuzel. Compared with previous years, Kuzel believes this year has seen fewer novel drugs and big trials with paradigm shifts; rather, there are more data refining the way these drugs should be used. Kuzel has seen studies examining genetic sequencing and mutations in certain tumors, which has an impact on the response to immunotherapy.

The medical community is starting to think of immunotherapy as a targeted approach to cancer rather than a broad therapeutic approach, according to Kuzel.