Cancer discovery
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Results from an international phase II study show that the investigational BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax is effective in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and the chromosome 17p deletion, whose prognosis is particularly poor. Venetoclax yielded high and durable responses in this population, including several complete remissions.
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The antibody-drug conjugate T-DM1 spurs immune cells to infiltrate HER2-positive breast tumors in patients. Treating mice that carry breast tumors with T-DM1 improves survival, but the tumors suppress the infiltrating lymphocytes. Combining T-DM1 with checkpoint inhibitors that block CTLA-4 and PD-1 overcomes this effect, eliminating breast tumors from 95% of the mice.