{"id":251622,"date":"2026-09-01T12:13:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=251622&preview=true&preview_id=251622"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T19:29:59","slug":"healthy-rounds-great-strides-in-cancer-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/09\/healthy-rounds-great-strides-in-cancer-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Healthy Rounds\u2019: Great Strides in Cancer Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Healthy<\/a>
Dr. Anthony Alessi\u2019s \u201cHealthy Rounds\u201d radio program is now a UConn Health podcast<\/a>. (Tina Encarnacion\/ UConn Health photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idea of using cells from your own tumor to develop a personalized vaccine that guides your immune system to fight your cancer goes back several decades. Today, we are on the verge of using messenger RNA to bring this concept to a new level, one that could change how we treat melanoma and other cancers. Dr. Margaret Callahan(opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/strong>, chief of UConn Health\u2019s Division of Hematology and Oncology and medical director of the clinical trials office, joins Dr. Anthony Alessi<\/strong>(opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> to explain how immunotherapy works and why it holds so much promise.<\/p>\n

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T<\/span>hese therapies, they don\u2019t work directly on the cancers. They work on your immune system, and let your immune system do the job. — Dr. Margaret Callahan<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Listen now:<\/h3>\n