Immunology Is the New Frontier in the Fight Against Cancer

"PerkinElmer is transforming how researchers can see the distributions of immune cells in the tumors they are treating, which can have a significant impact on their understanding of the immune system’s role in cancer."

In the incredibly complex world of cancer immunology research, success often comes down to a single, simple fact. If you cannot see it, you cannot treat it. After decades of relying on toxic cures such as chemo- and radiation therapy to battle cancer, researchers in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical industries are now spending billions to explore what some are calling the “Holy Grail” -- the ability to unleash the human immune system itself against cancerous tumors. (Reference: Cancer Immunology, Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Science Magazine)

Despite immense strides in leveraging immunotherapy against some cancers, immunologists acknowledge that they remain largely in the dark when it comes to identifying immune cells and how they interact with other cells in solid tumors. Traditional research methods have not been successful in classifying and quantifying immune cells in solid tumors, considered the keys to unlocking personalized medicine. In addition, no cost-effective and easy-to-use tools or workable tissue analysis platforms have been available to help advance immunological research...until now.

Targeted Medicine

To advance research, it's critical that researchers see everything a tumor has to show. With PerkinElmer's Cancer Immunology & Immunotherapy Research Solutions, researchers can now detect, measure, visualize, and compare multiple immune-cell phenotypes simultaneously in a tissue section. This means researchers can now identify the type of immune cells, how many there are and most importantly now they can see where they are right in the tumor enabling them to capture the true complexities of the interactions between cancer and the immune system. This opens up new insights that were previously difficult to obtain.

This new solution that consists of an intuitive workflow that spans from multiplex staining to image capture to per-cell analysis will soon become a keystone to unlocking the mysteries of solid tumors that will help revolutionize cancer research. The knowledge resulting from this research may help in validating biomarkers and providing better data to support research into potential subpopulation stratification methodologies.

"Cancer immunology, through the entire research, development and implementation process, provides hope for better outcomes, especially as new compounds make their way through development" said Brian Kim, President, Life Sciences & Technology, PerkinElmer. "PerkinElmer is transforming how researchers can see the distributions of immune cells in the tumors they are treating, which can have a significant impact on their understanding of the immune system's role in cancer. We continue to provide researchers with the critical technologies that help advance their mission for discovering breakthrough treatments."

For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.