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Doctors research immune therapies to fight cancer
A new method of fighting cancer is getting support from some doctors. According to an article in The Boston Globe, doctors are researching how to use the body’s own immune system to fight off cancer cells.
This immune therapy approach is called a vaccine, although it is used to treat cancer, not to prevent it. Experimental vaccines were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting and were targeting prostate, melanoma, and neroblastoma cancers, described in the article.
Guerilla warfare
According to the Globe, the oncologists at the annual meeting described the immune therapy as guerilla warfare. They explained that the body’s immune system has problems identifying cancer cells because the cancer cells are the body’s own cells, not foreign cells like flu cells so the immune system has trouble recognizing a problem and doesn’t immediately attack the cancer cells, said the Globe.
According to the Globe, the doctors at the cancer conference said they had found a vaccine that was able to stop a form of lymphoma from getting worse for more than a year, but they couldn’t predict how long this would last. The researchers are not calling this vaccine a cure for cancer, but a possible option in treatment.
Another possible treatment
In a related article in Science Daily, researchers have found that using an anti-diabetic drug boosts the immune system and helps cancer treatments. The researchers were from McGill University and the University of Philadelphia, led by Dr. Russel Jones at McGill’s Goodman Cancer Centre and Dr. Yongwon Choi at the University of Pennsylvania. According to the article, they found that the drug metformin used to treat diabetes improved the immune system’s white blood cells and this then helped cancer and virus-fighting vaccines.
Researchers think this finding could lead to new vaccines and immune cancer therapies. The Kiley Law Group located in Andover, Massachusetts takes time when speaking with you about your case and works with you on a contingent basis so there are NO FEES unless our trained personal injury lawyers wins your case. Call now for a FREE evaluation of your case – 1-888-208-1695.
