A cancer 'vaccine' is gaining national attention after Stanford researchers found that it eliminates tumors in mice.
According to a report by the Stanford University School of Medicine, scientists injected small amounts of two immune-stimulating agents directly into solid tumors in mice. This activated the T cells in the mice, the cells responsible for determining how the immune system responds to foreign substances and illnesses.
The results showed not only that all traces of the cancer were gone, but also even distant, untreated metastases could not be found.
Now, lymphoma patients are being recruited to test this new treatment in a clinical trial, though the 'vaccine' works for many different types of cancer, according to scientists.
This new type of therapy would allow doctors to target the tumor or tumors having adverse effects on the body, instead of causing the entire body to go through treatment and endure adverse side effects. Researchers say it is also a rapid and relatively inexpensive cancer therapy.
One of the two immune-stimulating agents in the 'vaccine' has already been approved for use in humans. The other has been tested for human use in several unrelated clinical trials, according to the report. A clinical trial was launched in January to test the treatment in patients with lymphoma.
