Researchers report some of the most encouraging results yet for treating lung cancer with the latest immune-based treatments, most of which have been approved to treat other types of tumors.

In three papers presented at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, lung cancer experts found innovative ways to weaken lung tumors to improve people’s chances of surviving the disease.

“There is definitely a high unmet need,” says Patrick Forde, assistant professor of oncology and associate member of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins, of the lack of effective treatments for lung cancer. Currently more than half of people who are treated even at early stages of the disease can expect the cancer to return, and chemotherapy typically leads to only a 5% improvement in people’s chances of living five years — but an up to 70% chance of being exposed to serious toxicities.

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