“It’s the future of cancer prevention," says Dr. Ajay Bansal, a gastroenterologist at the University of Kansas Cancer Center. Many consider cancer vaccines to be a form of immunotherapy, a kind of treatment that has revolutionized cancer care by using the immune system to beat back cancer cells. “Cancer cells and even pre-cancer cells know how to hide from the immune system," says Dr. Neeha Zaidi, a medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Walker had her fallopian tubes removed, followed by a double mastectomy, standard procedures to lower the cancer risk for healthy women with BRCA mutations. An earlier trial of the shot didn’t generate the anticipated immune response in people at high risk for lung cancer.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 10, 2024 13:20 UTC