Melanoma Vaccines: Possible Progress After Years of Frustration?

Abstract

Scientists are developing several additional immunotherapeutic methods, each with similar goals: to focus the immune response against tumors with greater specifi city and to block the natural suppressor mechanisms that tumors use to protect themselves from immune reactions. According to Paul Chapman , M.D., an attending physician at Memorial Sloan – Kettering Cancer Center, these approaches offer new hope for immunotherapy in the fi ght against melanoma and other cancers. “At some point, we might be able to use vaccines to prevent metastatic disease among melanoma patients whose lymph nodes have been surgically removed,” he said. “Or perhaps we could immunize people at high risk of the illness while they’re still teenagers, but that’s a dream scenario that won’t happen anytime soon.” Treatment Versus Prevention