A Look At Cancer Vaccine Research

Cancer vaccines have been in the popular science press over the past couple of years. Here is more from ScienceDaily: "At the root of most cancers is a single cell going awry and dividing uncontrollably, producing a tumor. As cells become cancerous, they produce proteins that are unfamiliar to the human immune system, which should prompt a protective response from the body. Yet somehow, these stealth proteins evade the body's defenses and allow the cells to grow into a tumor. In results from animal studies, pre-vaccination with these foreign proteins creates an immune response that prevents the tumor from forming. Unfortunately, each tumor's protein signature can be slightly different. In other words, even if two individuals have the same type of cancer, their tumors may be slightly different, and therefore the concept of a widespread preventative vaccine that would be effective in large numbers of people has been a daunting task. However, if common themes could be identified, it could provide a means for solving this problem." We should all be most interested in progress towards the defeat of cancer - the longer you live, the more likely it is that you'll experience it.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319180031.htm