(Nicoletta Lanese/ Live Science) — A personalized “cancer vaccine” may help keep a deadly form of skin cancer from growing for years, a small new study in humans suggests.
Unlike vaccines that prevent infections, such as measles and influenza, cancer vaccines are a form of immunotherapy that take down cancer cells that already exist. The vaccines train immune cells, called T cells, to better recognize cancer and target it for destruction, while sparing healthy cells in the body.
For example, the new experimental vaccine works by training T cells to spot specific proteins on melanoma cells, a type of skin cancer. In the study, scientists found that the T cells continue to “remember” these proteins for at least four years after the vaccination — and they even learn to recognize more melanoma-related proteins over time. (…)