The First Steps of Immunotherapy
A Story from the History of Medicine
9/7/20251 min read
In the late 19th century, American surgeon William Coley carried out an unprecedented experiment to treat cancer.
He used a mixture of bacterial antigens (from Streptococcus pyogenes and Serratia marcescens) to stimulate the patient’s immune system to attack cancerous tumors.
This treatment was called “Coley’s toxins”, and it marked the very first spark of the idea of immunotherapy on which modern medicine relies today.
The results at that time showed:
Reduction in the size of 52 tumors out of 1,200.
Complete recovery in 30 cases thanks to this treatment.
This experiment was the beginning that paved the way for understanding the role of the immune system in fighting cancer.