Immunotherapy

Hi Glenys this new vaccine is a trial drug and currently in the early stages of that trial, I believe the first person in the UK received his first infusion yesterday. 

This is a new vaccine which will be tailored to the individual patient. It does not stop the person from getting cancer, but hopes to stop a reoccurrence of that cancer. I believe the hope is that it will help many people with the most common forms of cancer ie bowel, breast and lung, but they are currently focusing on bowel cancer. 

As it is a trial, at the moment they will be approaching candidates, but this is the important part, the trial would have had to start when the patient was first diagnosed, as they need to use a sample of the patients cancer cells. The patient will then undergo treatment in the usual way, and then once the patient is cancer free for a period of 2-3 years, then they can receive the vaccine. This vaccine is personal to this patient only, using their own cancer cells to stimulate their immune system to fight any re occurring cancer. The article does not state if this patient has the possibility of any further cancers, other than their initial bowel cancer, ie they may still get prostate cancer further down the line. 

This is not going to help everyone, but it is very good news for cancer care and the fight to stop cancer re occurrence. I will pop a link below for anyone who wants a read.

/Landmark-NHS-cancer-patients-personalise-vaccines.

I haven't started any treatment yet, at the last appointment, they said that although it was in my lung, it didn't look like a lung cancer, that there might be links to the gastrointestinal tract.  My sister and I claim we've got Dad's body, bunions, arthritis and deafness, and Dad died of bowel cancer, which we don't want, thank you very much.  So a family failing(?) we want to nip in the bud!

So this is just hypothetical and just my opinion on the article that I have read regarding the vaccine. A person in your situation who hasn’t had a sample of a tumour removed, and is not currently on treatment, does not meet the criteria for the vaccine.

I can understand your concerns after losing your dad to bowel cancer, but this isn’t a vaccine to stop bowel cancer, but to stop a re occurrence. 

Is a biopsy not a sample?

I really wouldn’t know how much of the tumour they would need. The article just says -

 The process uses genetic material – RNA – from a patient's tumour to develop the vaccine, which is then given to the patient.

No harm in asking your oncologist. 

The way I read it is, it is not to stop you getting cancer it’s to stop the cancer you have had coming back. Looks like a sample of the tumour is taken, then you have your treatment, it looks as though if you are clear of cancer 2 years after your last treatment you then get given your personalised vaccine to stop it returning.

Maybe I’m reading it wrong, I will have another look.

That’s how I read it Justme19. We all know how important trial drugs are, and I really do hope this will be successful, but the title of the article I think is very misleading, it makes it look like there is a vaccine ready and available which will stop people getting cancer, which when you read it, this is not the case at all. 

Hi Glenys Macmillan have posted some information about the vaccine that you may be interested in, I’ll pop the link below.

personalised-cancer-vaccines