Cancer Vaccines
Moderator: chowadmin
Cancer Vaccines
Kiwani, whats all the info you have on the cancer vaccines, Pekoe starts a series of 5 shots after the radiation so I want to get all the info I can before they start injecting her with drugs.
I have to talk to the oncologist but if the cancer hasn't spread and the radiation kills the tumor, why the shots, I don't know if I want them using some experimental drugs on Pekoe and who knows what the side effects are.
I have to talk to the oncologist but if the cancer hasn't spread and the radiation kills the tumor, why the shots, I don't know if I want them using some experimental drugs on Pekoe and who knows what the side effects are.
Re: "I have to talk to the oncologist but if the cancer hasn't spread and the radiation kills the tumor, why the shots, I don't know if I want them using some experimental drugs on Pekoe and who knows what the side effects are."
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The cancer *might* be seeded elsewhere, and may not be detectable yet. It is an aggressive cancer, which can overwhelm the immune system. Radiation won't have much affect on it if it gets to that stage. Chemotherapy has no effect on it.
The vaccine, as I understand it, is made from the patient's own cells with coding instructions to the immune system, to destroy any such malignant cells it finds. It's like presenting a bloodhound with a unique scent, and saying, "go find it". The immune system hasn't killed the cancer cells which are presently growing in Pekoe. The vaccines would be like telling the immune system, "HEY WAKE UP!!! We have a life-threatening problem with certain cells having this specific chemical signature, remove any other ones with the same chemical signature!"
Excerpt:
http://www.cancervaccines.com/?fa=cancer/building
"Cancer vaccines need to satisfy a number of requirements to be successful.
They must contain tumor antigens specific to a particular malignancy.
These antigens must be presented to the immune system in such a way that response to them is dramatic enough to incite CTL-invoked cell kill.
Patients must be well enough to mount an appropriate CTL response (i.e. they can not be heavily immunocompromised).
The burden of tumor should be relatively low to obtain an optimal response.
Even if tumors do express a unique or aberrant tumor-associated antigen, the immune system largely tolerates malignant cells and they continue to replicate until the disease overwhelms the immune system.
An anti-cancer vaccine therefore must not only target specific tumor-associated antigens, it must also "wake" the immune system up to the fact that tumor antigens are present.
If an immune response against tumor-associated antigens could then be invoked that is both robust and directed specifically against malignant cells, it has the potential to destroy malignant cells wherever they occur."
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The cancer *might* be seeded elsewhere, and may not be detectable yet. It is an aggressive cancer, which can overwhelm the immune system. Radiation won't have much affect on it if it gets to that stage. Chemotherapy has no effect on it.
The vaccine, as I understand it, is made from the patient's own cells with coding instructions to the immune system, to destroy any such malignant cells it finds. It's like presenting a bloodhound with a unique scent, and saying, "go find it". The immune system hasn't killed the cancer cells which are presently growing in Pekoe. The vaccines would be like telling the immune system, "HEY WAKE UP!!! We have a life-threatening problem with certain cells having this specific chemical signature, remove any other ones with the same chemical signature!"
Excerpt:
http://www.cancervaccines.com/?fa=cancer/building
"Cancer vaccines need to satisfy a number of requirements to be successful.
They must contain tumor antigens specific to a particular malignancy.
These antigens must be presented to the immune system in such a way that response to them is dramatic enough to incite CTL-invoked cell kill.
Patients must be well enough to mount an appropriate CTL response (i.e. they can not be heavily immunocompromised).
The burden of tumor should be relatively low to obtain an optimal response.
Even if tumors do express a unique or aberrant tumor-associated antigen, the immune system largely tolerates malignant cells and they continue to replicate until the disease overwhelms the immune system.
An anti-cancer vaccine therefore must not only target specific tumor-associated antigens, it must also "wake" the immune system up to the fact that tumor antigens are present.
If an immune response against tumor-associated antigens could then be invoked that is both robust and directed specifically against malignant cells, it has the potential to destroy malignant cells wherever they occur."