Scientists Designed A Cancer 'Vaccine' That Remembers Disease

Researchers work on a revolutionary new cancer treatment that acts like a watchman to prevent cancer returning by remembering the disease. Scientists are designing immune cells able to boost the body's own natural defenses to fight tumors. The engineered immune cells are acting effectively like a vaccine because they can stand guard for a lifetime.

According to researchers, this is like having a "living drug" that stays vigilant constantly to the return of cancer and removing it quickly from the body. The findings of the new study were presented at the annual meeting in Washington of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For the first time ever, this research has proven that engineered "memory T-cells" can persist in the body for more than 14 years.

According to Professor Chiara Bonini, a haematologist at San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita e Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, T-cells could be considered as a living drug and they can persist in our body for our whole lives. When a T-cell gets activated after encountering the antigen, not only kills the pathogen but also will persist as a memory cell. The research team tried to translate this to cancer immunotherapy by engineering memory T-cells that remember the cancer and fight it when it comes back.

The research study involved a trial at a Milan hospital on ten patients who had bone marrow transplants. The patients also received immune-boosting therapy including the memory T-cells. The scientists found the memory T-cells in patients' bodies even 14 years later.

According to The Telegraph, immune-therapies are a better alternative than cell-damaging chemotherapies because they harness the body's own immune system. However, in order that the cancer cannot come back, one of the biggest challenges is to make these changes in memory T-cells last long enough. For the first time in the Milan, study scientists proved that these memory T-cells can survive in the body long after the original cancer treatment.