The medical community has come up with a weapon to fight cancer, and in some cases, it’s working extremely well. The weapon: You. “Immunotherapy’s aim is to prompt the immune system, which is often stymied by cancer, to attack tumors with the zeal and sophistication that it attacks other diseases. The concept, at least in a primitive form, stretches back more than a century, but only in recent years have therapies been developed that show its true promise — and, for now, its limitations.” The NYT’s excellent Matt Richtel examines the remarkable possibilities and the remaining challenges of Immunotherapy by telling the story of his friend’s battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

+ Also from the NYT: Harnessing the immune system to fight cancer.