Derek Thompson

Let's tell this story then. In oncology, you have these waves of treatment as you describe them, chemotherapy, then targeted therapy, then immunotherapy. I think most people know about chemotherapy, but pick up the story there. What is targeted therapy and immunotherapy and how have those frontiers failed in the quest to take on pancreatic cancer?

Why? What makes pancreatic cancer so resistant to this type of treatment?

Why? What makes pancreatic cancer so resistant to this type of treatment?

Why? What makes pancreatic cancer so resistant to this type of treatment?

As I was reading about immunotherapy, and in particular about the challenge of teaching our T cells to recognize antigens, to recognize cancer as an enemy rather than a self, it seemed to me like there's this dance that's going on that I thought of a little bit like red light, green light. If there's no infection in our bodies, T cells don't need to attack healthy cells, red light.

As I was reading about immunotherapy, and in particular about the challenge of teaching our T cells to recognize antigens, to recognize cancer as an enemy rather than a self, it seemed to me like there's this dance that's going on that I thought of a little bit like red light, green light. If there's no infection in our bodies, T cells don't need to attack healthy cells, red light.

As I was reading about immunotherapy, and in particular about the challenge of teaching our T cells to recognize antigens, to recognize cancer as an enemy rather than a self, it seemed to me like there's this dance that's going on that I thought of a little bit like red light, green light. If there's no infection in our bodies, T cells don't need to attack healthy cells, red light.

If we get a virus or a bacteria and our immune system clicks on and mounts a defense, the T cells turn on, like T cell green light. But cancer's sneaky. It can hide from the immune system, and it sometimes produces proteins that block those T cells that turn the green light back into a red light. But these checkpoint inhibitors, they remove that block.

If we get a virus or a bacteria and our immune system clicks on and mounts a defense, the T cells turn on, like T cell green light. But cancer's sneaky. It can hide from the immune system, and it sometimes produces proteins that block those T cells that turn the green light back into a red light. But these checkpoint inhibitors, they remove that block.

If we get a virus or a bacteria and our immune system clicks on and mounts a defense, the T cells turn on, like T cell green light. But cancer's sneaky. It can hide from the immune system, and it sometimes produces proteins that block those T cells that turn the green light back into a red light. But these checkpoint inhibitors, they remove that block.

They flip the green light back on so the T cells can do their job and fight the cancer. Is that one way to see the game here? It's about how do we use medicine to turn on our T cells when cancer is so good at turning them off?

They flip the green light back on so the T cells can do their job and fight the cancer. Is that one way to see the game here? It's about how do we use medicine to turn on our T cells when cancer is so good at turning them off?

They flip the green light back on so the T cells can do their job and fight the cancer. Is that one way to see the game here? It's about how do we use medicine to turn on our T cells when cancer is so good at turning them off?

I think this sets up our challenge nicely. Cancer is often immunologically invisible. It grows by evading the immune system, by disguising itself. And pancreatic cancer is particularly good at this disguise. So the challenge for cancer scientists here, I think, is made quite clear. How do we make pancreatic cancer visible to the immune system?

I think this sets up our challenge nicely. Cancer is often immunologically invisible. It grows by evading the immune system, by disguising itself. And pancreatic cancer is particularly good at this disguise. So the challenge for cancer scientists here, I think, is made quite clear. How do we make pancreatic cancer visible to the immune system?

I think this sets up our challenge nicely. Cancer is often immunologically invisible. It grows by evading the immune system, by disguising itself. And pancreatic cancer is particularly good at this disguise. So the challenge for cancer scientists here, I think, is made quite clear. How do we make pancreatic cancer visible to the immune system?

How do we turn on enough T cells that our bodies can mount a sustained attack in the tumors? So this brings us to cancer vaccines. What's a cancer vaccine?

How do we turn on enough T cells that our bodies can mount a sustained attack in the tumors? So this brings us to cancer vaccines. What's a cancer vaccine?

How do we turn on enough T cells that our bodies can mount a sustained attack in the tumors? So this brings us to cancer vaccines. What's a cancer vaccine?

So let's talk about your discovery. And I want to build up to last month's breakthrough slowly. Your lab studies rare survivors of pancreatic cancer. It studies them to understand how these survivors' immune systems are different. What have you found?