No chemotherapy: Attacking cancer with immunotherapy ‘vaccine’

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Image credit: Shutterstock

A recent Stanford cancer study that cured 97 percent of mice from tumors has now moved on to soliciting human volunteers for a new cutting-edge medical trial. The trial is part of a gathering wave of research into immunotherapy, a type of treatment that fights cancer by using the body’s immune system to attack tumors. “Getting the immune system to fight cancer is one of the most recent developments in cancer,” [said] Dr. Ronald Levy, a Stanford oncology professor.

The treatment is not a true vaccine that creates lasting immunity, but it does feature a vaccine-like injection carrying two immune stimulators that activate the immune system’s T cells to eliminate tumors throughout the body. Each test subject receives a low dose of radiation plus two rounds of the injected agents, Levy said. No chemotherapy is involved. The treatment does not work on all types of cancer, Levy said, because each type of cancer has a different set of rules regarding how it can be affected by the immune system.

Side effects at this point include fever and soreness at the injection site but no vomiting, Levy said. He said if the FDA does end up granting final approval, he wouldn’t expect it any sooner than a year or two from now.

Read full, original post: Chemotherapy-free ‘cancer vaccine’ moves from mice to human trials at Stanford

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