In what will certainly turn out to be one of the biggest setbacks in the field of medical sciences, with special reference to the long-running warfare against the potentially terminal can, it has recently been revealed that Dr. Lloyd J. Old, who accomplished various influential discoveries regarding the association between the human immune system and cancer, left the world behind on November 28 at his residence in Manhattan. He was 78.

He was globally known for his good work in the field of cancer research, wherein he endorsed the development of various immunological means and vaccines for fighting cancer. He was unmoved right through his work, unmovable in fact, regardless of a plentiful of setbacks and hindrances that came his way.

It was Dr. Lloyd Old whose patient and iron-willed work inspired the approval of immunotherapy.

Though no official words have been received till now regarding the reason behind his death, his family members claimed that he was suffering from unyielding prostate cancer.

Dr. Old, who pioneered the proceedings at a congregation of New York institutes, counting the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, was deemed the chief proponent and patriarch of a promising division of cancer treatment dubbed immunotherapy.

While expressing deep tribute for the legend of immunotherapy, the Director of Stanford School of Medicine's Institute of Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Irving Weissman said, "Without Lloyd Old, there would be one less therapy available to treat cancer patients. He has kept a field alive that shows great promise".

The sad demise of Dr. Old has created a gigantic hole in the field of cancer treatment using immunotherapy, also termed as biotherapy, which exemplifies a wide assortment of treatments, most of which use cells taken from cancer patients with the intent of bolstering the natural ability of human body to execute cancer and for providing the human immune system a better knack of spotting cancer cells that tend to thwart immunological supervision.