HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - New hope against melanoma. Lani, did you see this?

Lani · 11-10-2006, 07:27 PM

Immune boost tackles skin cancer

The treatment appears to stop skin cancer progressing
The body's own immune system could be used to fight the most serious form of skin cancer, scientists have claimed.
Two US teams have been able to manipulate immune cells to boost the attack on cancer cells.
Research presented to a European cancer research conference in Prague showed longer-term survival in 29 patients.
Experts said the studies were "significant", but much more research was needed before the treatment could be offered to patients.

This is a fundamentally different approach to treating cancer

Dr Alexander Eggermont, chairman of the cancer conference
Malignant melanoma affects around 8,000 people in the UK each year, and there were 1,777 deaths from the condition in 2004.

The average life expectancy after diagnosis of the most serious form of the disease, stage four, is around nine months.

Surgery or high doses of chemotherapy drugs are used to treat the cancer, but while they can reduce the size of tumours they cannot prevent the disease recurring.

The immune system that attacks cancer cells is a finely balanced defence system.

The amount of one kind of T cells, which recognise and attack foreign bodies such as tumour cells is controlled by a second, called Tregs.

Tregs usually act as a break stop the immune attack going into overdrive and turning on the body.

Activation

One study found it was possible to suppress Tregs by blocking the activity of a protein on the cells' surface.

This meant other parts of the immune system were free to attack.

The University of California, Los Angeles researchers treated 25 patients with injections of an antibody to block the protein.

Almost a year-and-a-half later, 24 of the patients are still alive. Three are free of cancer.

11-10-2006, 07:27 PM	#4
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,783	report of two papers at the Prague meeting Immune boost tackles skin cancer The treatment appears to stop skin cancer progressing The body's own immune system could be used to fight the most serious form of skin cancer, scientists have claimed. Two US teams have been able to manipulate immune cells to boost the attack on cancer cells. Research presented to a European cancer research conference in Prague showed longer-term survival in 29 patients. Experts said the studies were "significant", but much more research was needed before the treatment could be offered to patients. This is a fundamentally different approach to treating cancer Dr Alexander Eggermont, chairman of the cancer conference Malignant melanoma affects around 8,000 people in the UK each year, and there were 1,777 deaths from the condition in 2004. The average life expectancy after diagnosis of the most serious form of the disease, stage four, is around nine months. Surgery or high doses of chemotherapy drugs are used to treat the cancer, but while they can reduce the size of tumours they cannot prevent the disease recurring. The immune system that attacks cancer cells is a finely balanced defence system. The amount of one kind of T cells, which recognise and attack foreign bodies such as tumour cells is controlled by a second, called Tregs. Tregs usually act as a break stop the immune attack going into overdrive and turning on the body. Activation One study found it was possible to suppress Tregs by blocking the activity of a protein on the cells' surface. This meant other parts of the immune system were free to attack. The University of California, Los Angeles researchers treated 25 patients with injections of an antibody to block the protein. Almost a year-and-a-half later, 24 of the patients are still alive. Three are free of cancer.