Every two in five Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. This statistic is not only shocking to read, but probably means that you know or will know someone in your life with cancer. Millions of lives have been taken by the hands of this deadly, seemingly incurable disease. Fortunately, researchers are under the process of developing vaccines that might cure cancer once and for all.
Protein (Antigen) Vaccines
A typical vaccine is given before the illness occurs, acting as “preventative medicine.” However, researchers are challenging this idea by trying to make a vaccine that cures cancer even after cancer is found. To understand how it works, it’s important to have a basic grasp on human biology.
Every cell in your body is surrounded by and full of different proteins. Cells constantly die and your body has to make up for that by replacing them; Using a process called “cell division,” the cell divides itself into two.
Cancer is when a cell mutates from cell division and becomes useless, multiplying in number and spreading across the body. The sheer amount of cancerous cells often lump up and result in tumours, damaging DNA. In a tumour, you’ll find a protein exclusive to the affected area.
The protein vaccine, (A.K.A. antigen vaccine,) identifies the most common protein found in the tumour and makes a safe copy of it in a lab. The lab-made protein is then injected into the patient, for the immune system to recognize and learn how to attack it. This can be broken down into two parts. The dendritic cells find the lab-made protein to present it to the T-cells, who then learn to attack the real cancerous protein cells.
Unfortunately, this vaccine has not proven to be 100% foolproof. Side effects sometimes occur in patients such as fever, dizziness, chills, and other flu-like symptoms.
Personalized Cancer Vaccines
Every tumour is different, containing unique proteins called “neoantigens.” Doctors draw a sample of the tumour to collect the genetic instructions on how to make the neoantigens. They sequence the neoantigens as well as the cell’s DNA to identify the proteins that will react most intensely to the immune system. Afterwards, they inject those neoantigens in the body for the dendritic cells to find, and send the T-cells to attack. This vaccine has proved itself extremely useful especially in pancreatic and skin cancer.
Conclusion
Everything considered, vaccines prove themselves a highly promising treatment for cancer patients. However, like most other vaccines, there are mild side effects in taking one. What are your thoughts on the topic? Will cancer vaccines truly be the cure to cancer?
Sources
Cancer-busting vaccines are coming: here’s how they work
What is cancer? | Animation | Minute to Understanding