Okay, so he’s not really a supervillain. I’m just saying, with a name like Doctor Vile, he seems like a natural.
He and his colleagues are, however, doing some very interesting and promising research on using immunotherapy to treat cancer. The research team successfully cured prostate cancers in mice using only a vaccine–no radiation or chemotherapy. The vaccine was based on mutated vesicular stomatitis virus (which also has a certain villainous ring) that had been modified with segments of complementary DNA based on human prostate tissue. This antigen triggered a strong immune response targeted on the cancerous cells.
Clinical trials are probably a couple of years out, and practical treatment probably still further, but if it really works…a vaccine that cures cancer! They would have to develop a separate vaccine for each type of cancer, of course, but even if they had to tailor a vaccine to each individual patient, it would be a huge step forward.
It is theorized that the Gardasil vaccine will “cure” cervical cancer, since it appears to come only from certain strains of HPV that are the most common.
I love cancer breakthroughs! Cancer is the absolute fucking worst.
Pitiful fools! Observe how they line up like the sheep they are for my “cancer vaccine.” Soon the world that once mocked him shall tremble before Dr. Vile and his army of zombie slaves! BWAHAHAHAHAAA!
It’s a promising avenue of treatment, which is why a bunch of companies are looking at it now. It could be really good news. I wish they’d stop calling these vaccines, though. They use the immune system, but they don’t prevent you from getting cancer.
I can see the potential for confusion, but I’m not sure what else you’d call them. They’re made like vaccines, and they provoke immune responses like vaccines. Presumably, if the mice were later exposed to a live strain of the virus, the treatment would protect them against it. Essentially, it is a vaccine–it’s just not a vaccine against cancer.
I suspect that as it emerges, the therapeutic approach will be referred to by the existing blanket term “immunotherapy”, much like we now speak of chemotherapy. The actual agents will probably always be referred to as “vaccines”, though.
