By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) – – The safety and effectiveness of a new cancer treatment known as immunotherapy is largely unknown in patients with autoimmune diseases, researchers say – and that might account for up to a quarter of individuals with lung cancer. In autoimmune diseases – such as rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis or psoriasis, for example – the immune system attacks the body. Patients with autoimmune diseases have been mostly excluded from clinical trials testing immunotherapies over fears that the treatments will worsen the conditions or cause new ones to appear, because immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.
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Cancer treatment untested in many patients with immune problems