Pathology News

Advances made in Yale labs and developed into successful treatments are the result of cross-disciplinary collaborations across schools at Yale.

A compassionate dermatologist with expertise in genetics, Keith Choate, MD, PhD, Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor and Chair of Dermatology and professor of genetics and pathology goes beneath the skin's surface to target dermatologic conditions at their root cause.

Vaccines generated using the cells left over after tumour removal surgery could help to keep patients from redeveloping cancer.

The "personalized cancer vaccines" (PCVs) used by the nine patients in the trial were targeted to genes specific to their tumors, explained a team led by Dr. David Braun of the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn.

“This approach is truly distinct from vaccine attempts in kidney cancer," said David A. Braun, MD, PhD first author of the paper in a press release. “We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively “steered” towards the cancer in a very specific way. We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognize cancer,” added Braun.

Vaccines are on the cutting edge of cancer therapy research as a possible treatment option for the future. The trial led by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) principal investigator and first author David Braun, MD, PhD, explored the effectiveness of the personalized cancer vaccine specifically for patients with advanced kidney cancer — stage III or IV clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

In a Phase 1 study, nine people with advanced kidney cancer became cancer free after receiving personalized vaccines.

Kevin Schofield, CT, Director, Reference Services Clinical Operations, left, welcomes Epic team to Yale Pathology Labs during a recent visit.

Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are crucial effectors of the anticancer immune response and are hypothesized to be key determinants the efficacy of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Herein, the authors review studies that have evaluated the roles of various TIL subsets as predictive biomarkers for ICIs, as well as opportunities, challenges and strategies for future research in this field.