Science Friday A Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise
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Feb 26, 2025 Dr. Vinod Balachandran, an expert in pancreatic cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering, discusses groundbreaking advancements in vaccine development. He shares promising results from a small trial of an mRNA vaccine that showed half of the participants developed a lasting immune response. Remarkably, six out of eight of these patients remained cancer-free for over three years. Balachandran emphasizes the potential of personalized vaccines and the revolutionary shift these could bring to cancer treatment, especially for hard-to-treat cancers.
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Pancreatic Cancer's Treatment Challenge
- Pancreatic cancer is challenging to treat, and it's the second leading cause of cancer death in the US.
- Progress in treating other cancers hasn't translated to pancreatic cancer, making it a significant concern.
Immune System's Potential
- The immune system can be taught to recognize and attack pancreatic cancer cells through vaccination.
- This challenges the prior belief that the immune system couldn't recognize this type of cancer.
Cancer Cell Recognition
- The immune system identifies cancerous cells by recognizing mutated proteins (flags) on their surface.
- These mutations distinguish cancer cells from normal cells and trigger an immune response.