New York Times bestselling author Charles Graeber tells the astonishing story of the group of scientists working on a code that can enable the human immune system to fight - and perhaps even cure - cancer.

For decades, scientists have puzzled over one of medicine's greatest mysteries- why doesn't our immune system fight cancer the way it does other diseases? The answer is a series of tricks that cancer has developed to turn off normal immune responses - tricks that scientists have only recently discovered, and now are learning to defeat. We are in the midst of a revolution in our understanding of cancer and how to beat it.

Groundbreaking, riveting, and expertly told, The Breakthrough is the story of the game-changing and Nobel Prize-winning scientific discoveries that unleash our natural ability to recognise and defeat cancer, as told through the experiences of the patients, physicians, and immunotherapy researchers who are on the front lines. This is the incredible true story of the race to find a cure, and the definitive account of a historic moment in medical science.




'Crisp and suspenseful ... an inspiring medical narrative.'
-BBC

' A deft, detailed study of cancer immunotherapy ... From the once-discredited pioneer William Coley to immunologist and Nobel laureate James P. Allison, they form a brilliant, driven, admirably stubborn group that Graeber brings vividly to life.'
-Nature

'Imagine a vaccine that could cure cancer. As this book reports, that possibility may not be far off ... T he book offers hope for more effective treatments in the near future. A readable survey of the emerging field of immunotherapy in cancer treatment.'
-Kirkus