Supercharging the immune system to wipe out cancer Most diseases you're likely to encounter usually subside on their own or else go away after a week or so of antibiotics. Cancer, however, usually requires we bring out the big guns. Chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and cutting away parts of the body are all typical treatments for cancerous tumors. Scientists at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine on a specific type of rectal cancer called MMRd. These cancers succeed by tricking the immune system into ignoring them as they grow out of control. Scientists wondered if there might be a way to take off the cancer's disguise and use the body's own immune response to fight back. They gathered up 14 patients with MMRd rectal cancer and gave them an immune checkpoint inhibitor known as Jemperli. While the sample size of the study was small, the results were incredible.