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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 06:04 AM Apr 2013

Ovarian Cancer Vaccine Made From Tumor Cells Yields Responses

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-06/ovarian-cancer-vaccine-made-from-tumor-cells-yields-responses.html

Scientists have crafted an experimental vaccine against advanced ovarian cancer that was safe and triggered an immune response using muscled-up blood cells primed by tumors that were taken from the patients.

It took 7 days to make the injection individually for each woman, according to a report today at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington. The therapeutic vaccine was the first step in a two-part process that involved teaching the woman’s blood cells to recognize the cancer, then infusing an army of her own infection-fighting immune system cells to attack the tumor. The study was the first clinical trial of this new approach.

While the research in 31 patients wasn’t large or long enough to prove they all did better than with traditional care, 19 showed positive responses, said Lana Kandalaft, director of clinical development at the Ovarian Cancer Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. One woman who had suffered several previous relapses before treatment remains cancer-free after almost four years, defying expectations.

“We are preventing progression of already existing disease,” said Kandalaft, the study’s lead researcher, in a telephone interview. “Most of the patients are now on maintenance vaccine, just to keep the system going. We haven’t seen them recur. We are seeing how long they can go.”
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Ovarian Cancer Vaccine Made From Tumor Cells Yields Responses (Original Post) xchrom Apr 2013 OP
Let us hope this works over a very long period of time...nt Stuart G Apr 2013 #1
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