Vaccine for another cancer

[Guest guest]

It looks like the cancer vaccine (like Provenge) approach is

taking hold.

There is a recent report of a vaccine for glioblastoma, the brain

cancer that killed Kennedy. In trials, one form of the

vaccine raised average survival time from the common 12-14 months

after diagnosis to 3 years. That's a pretty impressive effect.

Here's a report:

http://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/article/36448.htm?c=NL20110413

One interesting statement in the report was:

> ... despite the promising results, a vaccine is unlikely to

> ever cure brain tumors, Yang said.

>

> Tumors are constantly changing, and over time produce molecules

> that turn off or interfere with immune responses, Chambers

> said.

I presume that they are saying that vaccine type drugs will never

be a cure for any cancer. I think that the way the immune system

works is that it injects a chemical into a diseased cell that

signals the cell to kill itself ( " apoptosis " ). But if mutations

in the cell cause it to ignore the signal, then the vaccine will

have no effect.

Alan