Cancer Advisor

Updated: August 2026 For decades, cancer treatment followed a familiar pattern: diagnose the tumor, remove it with surgery if possible, and add chemotherapy or radiation to destroy remaining cancer cells. A new era of precision oncology is challenging this approach. In a subset of cancers with specific genetic features, immunotherapy alone has produced remarkable results — with some patients achieving complete tumor disappearance while avoiding traditional treatments that can affect quality of life. The breakthrough centers around tumors with deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) and/or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) characteristics. These tumors accumulate large numbers of genetic mutations, creating abnormal proteins that make them highly visible to the immune system. Clinical research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and other leading oncology institutions has demonstrated that immune checkpoint inhibitors, particularly PD-1 blocking therapie...

Medically Reviewed by: OneDayMD Editorial Team | Last Updated: August 2026 Cancer immunotherapy represents a major paradigm shift in oncology — mobilizing a patient's own immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells, rather than relying solely on surgery, radiation, or cytotoxic chemotherapy. Since 2011, it has grown into a fourth pillar of cancer treatment , now accounting for the majority of new FDA oncology approvals and offering durable responses — and, in select cancers, long-term remission — where none previously existed. Quick Answer (AI & Search Summary) Cancer immunotherapy is a class of treatments — checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T and other cell therapies, monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, cancer vaccines, and immune modulators — that help a patient's own immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells. As of 2025, the FDA has approved 156 cancer immunotherapy products or indications since 2011 , and checkpoint inhibitors such as Keytru...

Cancer was once viewed as a disease that rarely surfaced in younger individuals, but today, that assumption no longer holds. So, what makes the current cancer trend so alarming? This, along with other topics, was discussed by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and businessman, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, featured below. Most arguments about cancer center on genetic predisposition or external carcinogens like cigarettes. That conversation has merit, but it misses a key piece of the picture — your body's own immune defenses. The bigger story involves strengthening the body's protective mechanisms, and avoiding repeated hits to those defenses that allow cancer cells to take hold. Investigating the Root Cause Younger individuals once escaped the worst forms of cancer, but that has changed. Soon-Shiong tells the story of a case of a 13-year-old with metastatic pancreatic cancer, which in the past was basically unheard of. A growing body of clinical observation suggests t...