Nov 18, 2005

Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Gives New Hope

A new immune-boosting vaccine gives new hope in increasing the survival of patients with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms for which the treatment options are few.

As per the phase II trial results presented recently at a cancer meeting in Philadelphia, the 2 year survival of patients who had undergone surgery for the removal of their tumor increased from 42 percent to 76 percent by the use of this vaccine.

The vaccine has been designed for boosting up that the patient's immune responses to pancreatic cancer cells that might have been left behind after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

In the phase II trial, the vaccine was given to 60 patients whose pancreatic cancer was extracted. Their 1- and 2- years survival rate was found to be 88 percent and 76 percent respectively. Earlier studies have shown the corresponding survival rates to be 63 percent and 42 percent respectively when the vaccine was not given.

Study investigator Dr. Daniel Laheru, from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore has alerted in his comment to Reuters health that though the findings are potentially good news for patients with early stage disease, only about 15 to 20% of the cancerous patients fit into this category.

He said that at the time of presentation most of the patients are in their advanced stage of cancer. He also told that last year his team has completed a study making use of a similar vaccine in patients in their advanced stage of pancreatic cancer and the results have been submitted for publication recently.


Janet      Return to Cancer Blog Main

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

Breast cancer blog: Breast cancer blog is run by Emily and other bloggers and they bring you the latest stories, news and events that are related to breast cancer. Increasing awareness about breast cancer among women and in the general population is the main goal of this breast cancer blog.

Lung cancer blog: Lung cancer blog is managed by Scott with the help of other bloggers. Through this blog Scott and his friends constantly remind the readers about the dangers of smoking. It's a never-ending struggle against this miserable disease with which a social stigma of smoking is associated.

Colon cancer blog: Colon cancer blog is run by Sue and other bloggers. Sue brings a personal touch to the colon cancer blog since her mother died of colon cancer few years ago. She writes about stories, research news and advances in treatment related to colon cancer.

Prostate cancer blog: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. American Cancer Society estimates that over 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer occur in the United state every year. This important blog about prostate cancer is run by Mark and other bloggers. This blog brings news, stories, and other personal observations related to prostate cancer.

Medicineworld.org publishes a diabetes watch blog and this blog is run by JoAnn other bloggers. This diabetes watch blog brings you the latest in the field of diabetes. This includes personal stories, advances in diagnosis and treatment, and other observations about diabetes. Improving awareness about diabetes is an important mission of this group.

Heart watch blog: About 13 million Americans suffer from coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in American men and women amounting a staggering 20 percent of all causes of death. The tremendous responsibility of running a heart blog is entrusted to Daniel. He is creating blog posts with the help and support of other bloggers.

Janet      

Cancer
We do not know the exact cause of many cancers. Many cancers like leukemia have no apparent cause. Some other types of cancers like lung cancers have identifiable causes like smoking in most cases. Lung cancer can occur in those who have never smoked in their life. It is hard to know in these cases what is causing that patients lung cancer. Factors that increase the risk of development of cancer is known as risk factors for cancer. These risk factors may be modifiable like smoking where a person can exert control or un-modifiable factors like age and gender. Smoking can cause cancers of the lungs, mouth, throat, bladder, kidneys and several other organs.