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Immune Therapies for Cancer Prevention
(Wednesday July 29 2009)
 | Here's a glimpse of the future of immune therapies for cancer. In years to come, researchers will have developed a vast library of biochemical signatures for precancerous tissue and very early cancerous growths. The immune system can be trained to attack those signs, thereby preventing known and catalogued forms of cancer from ever developing: "the new vaccine triggers the immune system to attack a faulty protein that's often abundant in colorectal cancer tissue and precancerous tissue. ... It works by spurring the body to manufacture antibodies against the abnormal version of a mucous protein called MUC1. While moderate amounts of the protein are found in the lining of normal intestines, high levels of a defective form of MUC1 are present in about half of advanced adenomas and the majority of colorectal cancers. The vaccine primes the immune system to monitor the gut for emerging cancers by teaching it to recognize abnormal MUC1. If an adenoma develops and begins to produce the faulty version of MUC1, the immune system will raise antibodies to attack and destroy the precancerous tissue. ... You would be using your immune system as a surveillance mechanism to prevent the development of malignancy." |
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