Immunotherapy offers new hope for curing all cancers

Immunotherapy has reached a new renaissance in recent years, Dr. Marie-Paule Sablin, an oncologist at Institut Curie Research Centre in Paris, told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview on new types of cancer treatments.

A new type of cancer treatment, immunotherapy has recently become a favored method in Europe. "In this treatment, all types of tumors can be cured. Immunotherapy has become more effective in fighting all types of cancers, especially lung cancer," said Sablin.

Sablin said that research and clinical tests on immunotherapy and other molecular treatments continue and will produce concrete results. "When tests regarding molecular treatments come out positive and if patients are responsive, we will apply the treatment," she added.

As for the treatment's side effects, she mentioned some of them on the digestive system, "We try to reduce side effects which affect cancer patients". She continued, "Regarding what stage the patients are at, they should be informed all the time. What patients need most is confidence".

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg and other philanthropists had pledged to donate $125 million to Johns Hopkins University for a new institute devoted to immunotherapy cancer research back in March.

Immunotherapy seeks to redirect patients' individual immune systems to target and destroy cancer cells. Researchers have called immunotherapy the most rapidly advancing approach to cancer treatment and one of the most promising avenues of research, the statement said.

Research at the institute will focus on melanoma, colon, pancreatic, urologic, lung, breast and ovarian cancers.

One high-profile cancer patient to undergo immunotherapy treatment was former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He began treatment in August for melanoma and said in December that he was cancer free.