On September 10th, the Cap Times Idea Fest 2025 sponsored a panel on immunotherapy featuring doctors from the UW Health’s Carbone Cancer Center.
Dr. Christian Capitini, Dr. Rebecca Richards, and Dr. Douglas McNeel were all recipients of the prestigious Anniversary Award of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.
The panel was designed to inform the public about a revolutionary method that could replace chemotherapy and other cancer treatments: immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy and Its Forms
So what is immunotherapy? Dr. Capitini states it as a concept where our own immune system “can not only recognize and fight infections, but it can recognize and fight cancer too. It just needs a little help.” In the past, when tumors did not respond to radiation or chemotherapy, we would simply bombard more of it. Yet, it didn’t work as the cancer managed to fight it off. However, it isn’t as defensive with immunotherapy.
This form of cancer therapy has large potential to be an alternative to chemotherapy when it doesn’t work. UW-Madison has historically been strongly committed to researching such therapies.
One form of immunotherapy that has been on the rise is CAR T-cell therapy. CAR stands for chimeric antigen receptor. According to Dr. Richards, a researcher of this form of immunotherapy, CAR is a new type of receptor that is expressed on T-cells. T-cells are incredibly suited for providing surveillance in your body for viruses, bacteria, and even cancer.
Yet, cancers can indeed avoid detection by the immune system. However, the CAR receptors energize the T-cells, helping them see the cancerous tumors much more clearly. To produce such cells, you engineer them in a lab and put them back into the patient, where they can exhibit tumor-specific activity.
While we usually associate vaccines with viral infections, cancer vaccines, another form of immunotherapy, have been on the rise. Yet, they are a little different: viral vaccines are used to prevent future infections, whereas cancer vaccines are used to fight a tumor that is already there.
For Dr. McNeel, the goal of a cancer vaccine is to generate an immune response, specifically T-cells, that can recognize the tumor cells and kill them. At the Carbone Center, clinical trials are combining vaccines with other immunotherapy methods that improve the function of T-cells against cancer.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has had a huge impact in the realm of medicine. In Carbone, the power of AI is used to answer questions in a powerful way. For example, T-cells attack certain mutated proteins within the tumor cells, but which of the millions of proteins do they specifically attack? AI can analyze genetically sequenced tumors and can predict which mutation is being attacked by the immune system.
In the field of radiology, AI can analyze CT and PET scans of each scan and identify specific spots that are growing better, worse, or staying consistent. This allows doctors to treat patients accordingly. Aside from research, AI has revolutionized the way doctors conduct their careers, including paperwork and appointments.
Doctors can also use AI to collect data regarding blood pressure, heart rate, and more on specific patients. Then, healthcare workers can sift through the data and use it to diagnose and manage treatment.
However, because of the amount of data that AI produces, Dr. Richards warns, “We’re going to really have to grapple with how much we trust.” Much of what’s online simply isn’t true for medicine. For this reason, foundational training is necessary to fact-check such information.
In addition, Dr. Capitini mentions that, while AI is excellent at what is known about science, it is useless in the unknown: AI cannot predict what is expected out of medicine. There are indeed blind spots, but as long as you use AI with caution, it can be a game-changing tool.
Love for Healthcare
Each doctor shed light on why they do what they do. For Dr. Capitini, the Carbone Center is a very special institution where you can ask anyone for help and they will drop everything to assist you. Here, people gather around and provide support. He is also excited about the future of research at UW Health, stating that we are only scratching the surface of what’s possible.
The patients and families are a top priority for Dr. Richards, to make their days a little bit better. Not only in the present with her clinic, but also in the future with her research in immunotherapy. She also wants to inspire this mission in other people who want to conduct similar research to her.
Similarly, for Dr. McNeel, his goal is to make each life better through what he can do. Due to his career, he gets to know each patient and their family over a long time and becomes much more personal with them. He is also incredibly inspired by the camaraderie present at the Carbone Center: research nurses have been working here for over 15 years because they love their career, citing that it's unheard of in a lot of other places. Dr. McNeel is also inspired by the long-term goal of utilizing immunotherapy, as over 1 out of 3 cancer patients are now treated with it.
Immunotherapy 20 Years from Now
“I’m going to be bold, I think for some cancers we’re going to replace chemotherapy with immunotherapy,” confidently stated Dr. Capitini, gaining applause. However, we must make sure we are much more upfront with immunotherapy. We must not simply treat it as experimental and resort to it as the last option after exhausting others.
While other cancer options may work, they come with massive symptoms and side effects that carry on even through adulthood. However, immunotherapy does not have the same impact.
In the realm of pharmacology, doctors have a strict rule that they must give the right medication to the right patient at the right dose. Dr. Richards is hopeful that within immunology, this rule will be much easily attained.
From the perspective of Dr. McNeel, there might be different lines of approach in the future in immunology as the field will grow, allowing many more methods and technologies that will identify which patient will respond to which therapy the best, as well as how much cancer is left.
Immunotherapy in the Changing Political World
As many research institutions are experiencing major funding setbacks, an audience member asked a question: “What about RFK Jr…how much is he going to set you back?” The answer is simply that the Carbone Center doesn’t know right now due to debate over federal funding. Thus, immunotherapy’s future is ambiguous. Whether or not it will experience setbacks or progress will depend on external decisions and time.
Another audience member asked a different question: Is it a good time to live in the United States for vaccines, or are there other nations that are advancing much more? Dr. McNeel elaborates that we are indeed getting closer to several vaccines. For example, a melanoma vaccine with a combination of other immunotherapeutic methods is aiding the fight against this form of cancer. There are multiple other progresses in combining vaccines with other methods. However, we are also lacking in several levels.
Yet, at the end, Dr. McNeel clearly emphasized, “Science isn’t political, science is based on facts.”
What can we do, as a community, to help the Carbone Cancer Center? One simple thing is to simply stay engaged. Dr. Capitini openly invites us all to come visit the labs and ask questions. Be an active participant in what is happening within the field of immunotherapy.
Second, work with your lawmakers. It is your right to discuss and know what decisions they are making and why. Most importantly, there are community donations that help financially support the crucial research that goes on at UW Health.
The UW Health Carbone Center is revolutionizing not just the way we treat but the way we see cancer. With immunotherapy, UW-Madison is combating this deadly condition in a way we have yet to see the full potential of. Spanning a wide variety of methods, immunotherapy offers the best alternative to the grueling journey of chemotherapy. With this tool in mind, we must remember: our bodies aren’t held in bondage. With a little boost, it can be the very weapon that kills cancer.
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