The procedure is not without risk

The procedure is not without risk

Black skin cancer, also called malignant melanoma, is usually caused by intense exposure to the sun. "Melanoma is the type of tumor with the most mutations in tumor cells," says Jochen Utikal, head of the Dermato-Oncology Clinical Cooperation Unit at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Center for Disease Control. Medical University of Mannheim. That is why melanoma is particularly suitable for immunotherapy: the immune system better recognizes a tumor with many mutations than a mutation with a few.

Treatment is via antibodies. In other words, every two or three weeks, an active substance is administered as an outpatient infusion. It does not always work. "Long-term tumor control can be achieved in about half of patients," says Grabbe.

And the process is by no means risk free. Because the defense of the body is unleashed, it can also be directed against healthy tissues and organs. "It's a big problem with immunotherapy right now," says Grabbe. The goal now must be to stimulate only the part of the immune system that recognizes the tumor.

Research is underway in Mainz on personalized immunotherapy. In this case, an individual agent is produced for each patient, which corresponds to the respective mutations in the tumor genome.

Previously, only certain markers already known had been defined, explains Grabbe. Recently, several scientific articles have been published – and the funds used in the studies have shown promise and are well tolerated.

The combination of targeted and non-targeted immunotherapy is particularly effective and particularly tolerated. "In principle, this can be done with any tumor patient, regardless of the nature of the tumor," says Grabbe. "Now we have to see if the therapy really works as well as we hope."