Is cancer finally on the ropes?

Great Strides, Good News The Immune System Rover has been launched. It’s at work diligently surveying the human immune system, studying prototypes in lab animals and testing out individual biological systems and pathways to find out why cancer cells are able to proliferate. That research has revealed just how a person’s own immune-system warriors can be awakened to defeat cancer.

As a result, we now have a vaccine against HPV that prevents cancer of the cervix, vagina, penis and throat, and one against hepatitis B that prevents liver cancer.

We also have the beginnings of vaccines that K.O. cancer even after it appears. There’s an approved treatment vaccine, Provenge, for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Others against breast and ovarian cancer, as well as low-grade B-Cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, have seen positive results.

How Do Other Cancer Vaccines Work?

Well, in one newly reported trial for a targeted, individualized breast cancer vaccine, the doctors used a patient’s own immune-system attack cells to win the war. They did genetic testing on the woman’s tumor and found about 300 mutations. Then they selected her immune system’s tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) that were “interested in those mutations,” meaning that they wanted to attack them. The scientists then grew 81 billion of those T-cells and infused them back into the participant, along with some interleukin-2. Voila! Tumors shrunk, and 22 months later the patient remains free and clear.

Where Does That Leave You? If you’re diagnosed with treatment-resistant cancer, talk to your oncologist about exploring clinical trials. Look for a complete listing of trials at www. ClinicalTrials.gov.

Also, know that lifestyle choices make a huge difference in preventing cancer and in helping your body to fight it off.