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Immunotherapy drug eliminates aggressive cancers in clinical trial

Over the past 20 years, a class of cancer drugs called CD40 agonist antibodies have shown great promise—and induced great disappointment. While effective at activating the immune system to kill cancer cells in animal models, the drugs had limited impact on patients in clinical trials and caused dangerously systemic inflammatory responses, low platelet counts, and liver toxicity, among other adverse reactions—even at a low dose.

But in 2018, the lab of Rockefeller University’s Jeffrey V. Ravetch demonstrated it could engineer an enhanced CD40 agonist antibody so that it improved its efficacy and could be administered in a manner to limit serious side effects. The findings came from research on mice, genetically engineered to mimic the pathways relevant in humans. The next step was to have a clinical trial to see the drug’s impact on cancer patients.

Now the results from the phase 1 clinical trial of the drug, dubbed 2141-V11, have been published in Cancer Cell. Of 12 patients, six patients saw their tumors shrink, including two who saw them disappear completely.


The researchers demonstrate that an engineered antibody improves a class of drugs that has struggled to make good on its early promise.

AI can find cancer pathologists miss

Men assessed as healthy after a pathologist analyses their tissue sample may still have an early form of prostate cancer. Using AI, researchers at Uppsala University have been able to find subtle tissue changes that allow the cancer to be detected long before it becomes visible to the human eye.

Previous research has demonstrated that AI is able to detect tissue changes indicative of cancer. In the current study, published in Scientific Reports, the researchers show that AI can also find cancers missed by pathologists.

“The study has been nicknamed the ‘missed study’, as the goal of finding the cancer was ‘missed’ by the pathologists. We have now shown that with the help of AI, it is possible to find signs of prostate cancer that were not observed by pathologists in more than 80 per cent of samples from men who later developed cancer,” says Carolina Wählby, who led the AI development in the study.


“When we looked at the patterns that the AI ranked as informative, we saw changes in the tissue surrounding the glands in the prostate”, says Carolina Wählby. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt.

Elon Musk Just DROPPED a Wave of Tesla Announcements

Questions to inspire discussion.

🚕 Q: How is Tesla’s robo taxi service progressing? A: Tesla’s robo taxi service is already larger than competitors in Austin and the Bay Area, with plans for significant expansion.

Business Model Shifts.

📊 Q: How might Tesla’s business model change with autonomy? A: Tesla may shift to manufacturing cars primarily for their own robo taxi service, rather than selling to individual customers.

🚛 Q: What potential does Tesla see in autonomous semi trucks? A: Tesla believes autonomous semi trucks could unlock trillions in value and shift supply chains from rail to trucking.

📅 Q: How is Tesla’s leasing strategy evolving? A: Tesla is focusing more on shorter leases (1−2 years) and inventory car leases, indicating a move towards a leasing and subscription model.

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