Immunotherapy is one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in decades: It can cure some cancers by telling the immune system to find and kill cancer cells.

But when doctors started using immunotherapies called checkpoint inhibitors, some patients had a puzzling side effect – their immune system also attacked healthy tissue. The reaction is strangely similar to autoimmune disease.

BRI’s team recently launched two studies investigating this connection. The research could help predict who will respond to checkpoint inhibitors, so doctors can match patients with treatments that are most likely to work. It could also provide clues on what triggers autoimmunity.

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