Immune-Boosting Cancer Treatment Cures or Reduces Lymphoma

Kazmarov · 08-14-2008, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Cancer patients have been left free of the disease after being treated with a new drug which harnesses the power of their own immune cells.

Four of 38 patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have seen the disease disappear following treatment, while five others saw reductions of 50 per cent in their tumours.

The drug, which could prove cheaper than other similar therapies, works by activating the body’s own defences to attack the cancer

Patients 'free from cancer' after immune-boost treatment - Telegraph

Oooh_snap · 08-15-2008, 09:28 AM

Lymphoma is already one of the cancers with the highest cure rate, but this is still great news. I only skimmed through the article for now, but it sounds really interesting and I hope they may find a way to use this on other cancers that aren't of the blood. Although, the side effects sound somewhat scary they aren't as bad as many of the chemos side effects. Essentially it sounds like it will work much the same way a bone marrow transplant does, just much less invasive.

Kazmarov · 08-15-2008, 06:33 PM

Yeah. The interesting thing isn't that it cures a curable cancer, but that it does it in a non-specific way.

If cancer is to be cured, it either has to be done cancer by cancer (and sub-type by sub-type), or a larger, universal cure that works in a broad way. The latter would save decades off of a cure and save millions of lives.