Treatments that unleash the body's immune system to kill cancer are offering patients new hope, turning a medical dream into reality

Special Report: Treatments that unleash the body's immune system to kill cancer are offering patients new hope, turning a medical dream into reality.

Saturday, July 30, 2016 10:56 AM EDT

Remarkable stories of tumors melting away and terminal illnesses going into remissions that last years — backed by solid data — have led to an explosion of interest and billions of dollars of investments in the rapidly growing field of immunotherapy. Pharmaceutical companies, philanthropists and the federal government’s “cancer moonshot” program are pouring money into developing treatments. Medical conferences on the topic are packed.

All this has brought new optimism to cancer doctors — a sense that they have begun tapping into a force of nature, the medical equivalent of splitting the atom.

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