We are in the midst of a revolution in the treatment of cancer. By harnessing and enhancing the body’s immune system, we can reduce tumor burden in patients and, in a subset of patients and cancers, achieve long-lasting remission. This has led to FDA approval of immune-based treatments for melanoma, lung cancer and kidney cancer – with many more cancers soon to be impacted. As these treatments become the standard of care, we can say with increasing certainty that the era of cancer immunotherapy has begun.
And yet, even as we are seeing some patients being cured by these new immunotherapies, most patients remain unresponsive. To accelerate and expand this ongoing revolution, we need to understand what drives immune responses against a tumor; determine why some patients experience effective immune responses while others do not; develop and bring safe and effective immunotherapies to patients; and invent completely new immune-based therapeutic strategies.
The Center for Cancer Immunology at the Mass General Cancer Center addresses these challenges. Our achievements over the past decade at the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies in understanding targeted cancer therapies and bringing them to patients provides a model for the seamless integration of basic research, translational sciences, clinical trials and patient care. Working closely with the leaders of the Termeer Center, physicians and scientists throughout Mass General and the Cancer Center, faculty at the Center for Cancer Immunology are working to advance our understanding of cancer immunity and harness the immune system to cure cancer.
Team members in the Center for Cancer Immunology are working creatively and passionately to understand the rules of the game for tumor immunity, to develop new and potent immunotherapies, and ultimately, to use the immune system as a powerful tool to prevent cancer progression. To do this, we have chosen to focus our efforts on four transformative programs: cellular immunotherapy, checkpoint inhibitors, cancer vaccines, and early cancer immunotherapy. With a world-class team and an extensive research and clinical infrastructure in place, we are ready to accelerate the delivery of these potentially lifesaving therapies to our patients and set new standards of care that will benefit patients worldwide.
See how the Center for Cancer Immunology leverages the expertise of a variety of internal and external resources.
The Center for Cancer Immunology’s core faculty, Nir Hacohen, PhD, Marcela Maus, MD, PhD and Shawn Demehri, MD, PhD work closely with physicians and scientists throughout Mass General and the Cancer Center.
Learn about the Cellular Immunotherapy Program.
Learn about Nir Hacohen's laboratory.
Learn about Marcela Maus's laboratory.
Learn about Shawn Demehri's laboratory.
Learn about the Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research.
Contact the Mass General Cancer Center to make an appointment or learn more about our programs.
