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This is a treatment, not a vaccine, so it's something you use after you get cancer instead of something you take to prevent you from getting it.
by onychomys 5y ago
This is a treatment, not a vaccine, so it's something you use after you get cancer instead of something you take to prevent you from getting it.
- adamredwoods 5y agoCorrect it is to help T-cells identify existing cancer cells, because current immunotherapy isn't all that great (cancer cells are tricky!). >> Next, the researchers employed new sequencing technology that makes a mRNA-based change of primary immune cells possible. They identified the target gene in single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets. Then they performed a functional test to validate the role of the target gene in enhanced immune cell-mediated killing of tumor cells. This is important because cancer cells have different properties that enable it to sneak past T-cells. So they are trying to identify specific characteristics to tumor cells that enable them to make mRNA that then is used to shape T-cell behavior. These vaccines can also be used (hopefully) to prevent metastasis, which is the true killer behind most cancers. Getting the body's immune system to respond is key. It could be seen as a prevention against spread in the body.
- raxxorrax 5y agoIt would be a breakthrough if this works since that would basically make almost all forms of cancer treatable.
- xiphias2 5y agoYou are right that it’s not a vaccine, but you are wrong about the definition of a vaccine. Moderna’s personlized cancer vaccine triggers the immune system in a different way than this therapeutic. ,,Vaccines can be prophylactic (to prevent or ameliorate the effects of a future infection by a natural or "wild" pathogen), or therapeutic (to fight a disease that has already occurred, such as cancer.’’