for cancer patients. Mesothelioma treatment (vaccine) might be on the way.
Experimental vaccine shows early promise against mesothelioma
Friday 5 March 2010
A vaccine against mesothelioma, a cancer associated with exposure to asbestos, has shown early promise in its first clinical trial.
The experimental vaccine is an example of dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy, in which the body's own immune system is harnessed to target and destroy cancer cells.
In the vaccine, a sample of the patient's 'dendritic' immune cells are mixed with proteins taken from their tumour.
When implanted back into the patient, these cells can then activate other elements of the patient's immune system, known as T-cells, and encourage them to attack and destroy the tumour.
Researchers at Erasmus Medical Center in The Netherlands have previously shown that DC vaccines bring about an anti-tumour response in mice and decided to test the technique in humans.
They enrolled ten people who had recently been diagnosed with a form of mesothelioma called 'malignant pleural' mesothelioma, and who had been previously treated with chemotherapy.
The team took a sample of dendritic cells from each patient's blood, and exposed them to proteins from their tumours.
The dendritic cell samples were also exposed to a 'marker' protein called keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH).
source
I'm not really equip as to the history of this type of cancer but it seems prevalent these days. It's funny how the success of the past affects the lives of the people in the future. You can never tell or know.
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