Health
Cancer therapy would include customized vaccinations
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 2, 2004
To help cancer patients tap what could be a strong natural ally in fighting tumor growth and metastasis, researchers affiliated with Harvard University Medical School have devised ways to bolster patients' immune response against kidney and breast cancer.
In a study which was published in the July 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, the researchers documented tumor regression in two breast cancer patients.
The study also reported stabilization and containment of tumor growth in late-stage breast and kidney patients through application of customized vaccinations made from the patients' own tumor and immune system cells.
By fusing patients' tumor cells with their immune system dendritic cells, the researchers created customized antigen-presenting immune cells that train T cells to hunt, recognize and destroy the patients' tumor cells.
"We aimed to develop a novel vaccine that took whole tumor cells with their complete array of tumor-specific antigens and combine them with the potent immune stimulating machinery of the dendritic cells," said David Avigan, MD, director of bone marrow transplantation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and lead author of the article.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/08/02/hlbf0802.htm.
