Vaccine stops brain tumor growth in humans: We're beginning to exploit the Achilles' heel of cancer [View all]

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/28/2023353/-Vaccine-stops-brain-tumor-growth-in-humans-We-re-beginning-to-exploit-the-Achilles-heel-of-cancer


As we learn more and more about cancer, we begin to find characteristics of cancer cells that betray their identity in a way we can attack. One example: Many types of cancer cells have a specific mutation in a protein called IDH1 that normal cells don’t have. The mutation in that protein changes its structure enough that you can induce antibodies to go after it but leave the normal protein — and hence normal cells — alone.

Researchers based in Heidelberg, Germany, led by Michael Platten, have done just that, as they reported March 24 in Nature. They developed a brain cancer vaccine, and the first real tests in humans show that brain tumors are being infiltrated by T cells programmed to go after this protein, and in most cases the progression of the disease is being halted.

We may just be on to something here, folks.