Immunized Against Cancer?

From ScienceDaily: "New research suggests that monoclonal antibody therapy of cancer can be improved to be much more powerful than it is today ... We believe that antibody therapy has the capacity to immunize people against cancer. Treatment modifications might be able to prolong, amplify, and shape a continuous immune response to cancer cells ... Scientists now believe that it will be possible to alter the antibodies so that they induce both kinds of human immunity - the innate immune response that is short-lasting and which directly kills tumor cells, and a long-lasting 'memory' response that comes from the adaptive immune response. ... We have long thought that monoclonal antibodies are capable of stimulating the innate immune system, but we now have evidence that the therapy can prime an adaptive response as well. Such responses would make the treatment much more powerful, capable of keeping cancer under control."

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090320102128.htm

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