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Is there a Vaccine for Cancer

Most Vaccines work by training the immune system to recognise harmful viruses or bacteria. Vaccines are usually given before we actually get infected as a preventive medicine. Can this approach be used even in cancer? The Idea is to teach the body’s immune system to recognise the cancer cell and then kill them. Our science has progressed to an extent that now there are several ways to do it.

Every cell in the body is surrounded by a cell membrane with proteins embedded in it. Inside the cells there are proteins too. Cancer cells make proteins that are found nowhere else in the body, think of them like an alien.  The simplest type of cancer vaccine takes a single protein, commonly found in one type of cancer and teaches the immune system to react to it. The protein or antigen is injected into the body where an immune cell called a dendritic cell ingests it. The Dendritic cells then activate another class of immune cell called T cells and these attack the cancer. This method is straightforward and it can help prevent reoccurrence of cancer like Breast Cancer, Lung’s cancer, prostate cancer which are very common.  

There is another type of Cells called as Natural Killer Cells which are known for their ability to recognize and kill virus-infected cells, tumour cells, and other abnormal cells, without prior sensitization or activation. They also produce cytokines, which are chemical messengers that help regulate the immune response. They are part of the body’s first line of defence against pathogens and cancer cells. They are also known to act on body’s autoimmune conditions.

For advance and complicated cases of cancer we can now target patient’s tumours more specifically. As tumours grow, they mutate which means they change the unique proteins that each patient’s tumour acquires, as it mutates are known as neo-antigens. And these neo-antigens are being used as the basis for personalised cancer vaccines. First a sample of patient’s tumour is taken. The Tumour cell contains messenger RNA which carries the genetic instructions for making proteins. The mRNA is extracted and sequenced along with the cell’s DNA, to identify the instructions for the tumour’s unique proteins, its neo-antigens. The one’s predicted to most powerfully stimulate the immune system are selected and injected into the body for the Dendritic Cells to find. This kind of unique mRNA vaccine is showing exciting promise for treating melanoma and pancreatic cancers.

Personalised vaccines are very powerful, and making them use for every patient, is time consuming and requires lot of resources and that is what makes them costly.

How can one decide weather to opt for a cancer vaccine?

Cancer survivors, also One should check their family history, their exposure towards chemically toxic environment, people having mentally exhausting work profile like IAS, IPS, politician and people from entertainment industry.

Call + 91 90012 90028 or visit www.viecells.com to know more   

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viecell

VieCell Institute of Regenerative Medicine, we are the leading healthcare company in India having the experience and expertise to deliver quality healthcare services at an affordable price.

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