While the development of therapies designed to block "checkpoints" within the immune system has been one of the most exciting and noteworthy advances in cancer research in recent years, it's also been one of the most puzzling, leaving researchers to ask: Why don't these new therapies work for more patients, and why is their efficacy in controlling cancerous tumors often short-lived? A research team from Roswell Park Cancer Institute has shown that at least one answer -; and an excellent opportunity for unleashing the full potential of these promising immunotherapies -; may lie in the body's "fight or flight" reaction to stressors and in drugs already widely used to control and temporarily disable this stress response.
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