A one-two punch for cancer.A two-step immune-stimulating strategy can prompt the body to fight cancer growth, Steven A. Rosenberg and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., have found. In what they term a "preliminary" report in the Dec. 5 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. , the researchers describe transfusing cancer patients with the immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. stimulator interleukin-2 along with the patients' own, previously collected white blood cells White blood cells A group of several cell types that occur in the bloodstream and are essential for a properly functioning immune system. Mentioned in: Abscess Incision & Drainage, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Complement Deficiencies . They tried the process on 25 patients with untreatable Un`treat´a`ble a. 1. Incapable of being treated; not practicable. , advanced cancers of various types. One patient was cancer-free 10 months after therapy, in 11 patients the tumors shrank by more than 50 percent, and 10 patients had a partial response. Interleukin-2 can induce white blood cells to develop in lymphokine-activated killer (LAK LAK In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Laos Kip. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) cells, which kill cancer cells but not normal cells. Neither LAK cells alone nor interleukin-2 given at anything but near-toxic doses limit cancer growth. While the researchers note that the findings represent "a possible new approach to the treatment of cancer, with potential applicability to a wide variety of tumors," they caution that the study involved a small number of patients and that the safety of the procedure remains to be determined. According to a National Institutes of Health spokesperson, the same sort of immune stimulation has been tried on an AIDS patient, but it is too early to tell if it worked. |
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