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With a growing and aging population, cancer is on the rise, and the lives of millions of cancer patients are already at stake each year. Is it possible to build a world immune to cancer? The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) says yes—and this month marks 70 years of progress and research in the field of tumor immunology.
As cancer incidence rates rise, so does the need for new and advanced treatment options. The most significant advance in cancer treatment since the 1940s, immunotherapy has made waves in cancer treatment. It is now considered the fourth pillar of cancer treatment, complementing and sometimes replacing surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy as options for patients.
Immunotherapy, especially checkpoint blockade antibodies like those targeting CTLA-4 and PD-1/L1 and CAR T cell therapies, have been proven an effective and superior treatment for various cancers, including blood, breast, colorectal, kidney, lung, melanoma, prostate, skin, and other cancers. It is now the standard of care for several cancers and is given alone or in combination with other treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.
While this has proven effective in treating many different cancer types, there are still patients who do not respond to immunotherapy and others who respond but do not achieve lasting cures. This is the key question and a driving force in CRI’s research, determining why some patients respond well and can be effectively cured with immunotherapy while others do not.
This research requires deep correlative science to examine individual immune responses and generate the data that will uncover new insights. It’s a long-term commitment that requires vision, expertise, efficient management of resources, collaboration, and, of course, money to put will into action.
CRI’s relentless pursuit of knowledge has demonstrated the organization’s essential and unique role in strengthening the field of tumor immunology and using their momentum and expert foresight to push scientific progress forward. In addition to their research, CRI delivers high-quality, expert-vetted information about cancer immunotherapy and clinical trials to patients and caregivers, presenting lifesaving information to those who need it most.
Through decades of commitment to advancing scientific research that has made effective immunotherapy possible, CRI has given hope to millions of cancer patients worldwide.
As a nonprofit that relies on donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations, CRI raises and spends its budget each year, devoting as much of every dollar as possible to pursue discoveries that will lead to the end of cancer deaths.
CRI’s Scientific Advisory Council guides CRI’s funding decisions, identifying opportunities for strategic philanthropic investments designed to attract and support promising young scientists alongside awarding grants, fellowships, and other funding to support bold and innovative laboratory and clinical research.
CRI scientists are making new discoveries each day about our immune system and how we can harness its power to defeat cancer for good. Their work would not be possible without the donors, community fundraisers, and others who spread the word and rally behind CRI’s mission to save lives.
Technological advances have transformed cancer immunology research, accelerating the pace of discovery and generating massive data sets containing more answers to cancer. To build the future scientific workforce, CRI has launched new research and training programs that bring together immuno-oncology and bioinformatics.
Data are the building blocks for creating a world immune to cancer. CRI is looking ahead to a future where cancer is no longer something to fear but instead something that can be managed or even cured with immunotherapy.
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