It seems like the news is always so down and depressing these days, so it’s extra nice when you get a great uplifting piece of news to share. I came across an article on United Press International’s website about a new skin cancer vaccine that has some amazing initial results in tests. The article is titled “Cancer Vaccine has 85 Percent Survival”, and that pretty much cuts right to the chase.
The study was just published in the journal Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, and was done in Newport Beach, California. In this study patients with metastatic melanoma (the most serious form of skin cancer) were given dendritic cell vaccines and showed remarkable results.
“The one-year and projected five-year survival rates of 85 percent and 54 percent, respectively, are remarkable for melanoma patients with documented metastatic disease,” study lead investigator Dr. Robert Dillman of the Hoag Cancer Center, Newport Beach, Calif., said in a statement. “This study is extremely encouraging and shows the potential these types of personalized cancer vaccines have for patients diagnosed with metastatic melanoma.”
These vaccines are patient specific and uses the patients own existing cells. The patients in the study where then injected with the vaccine 8 times over a 5 month period. It works by stimulating the person’s immune system and also includes an immune stimulator called granulocyte-colony stimulating factor.
These results are phenomenal news, and you can’t argue with results. Since the vaccine has to be individually tailored, it can be fairly expensive, so getting the cost lowered would be the next step in the process. Even with the high cost its still a tremendous advancement in our treatment of melanoma skin cancer. Kudos to the researchers.
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