>I have the idea why not trying to challenge the immune system of a cancer
>patient with the cancer cells itself, weakened if necessary, and inject them
>intracutaneously. I expect the immune system will be agitated by the injection
>and start to develop cell-mediated immune reactions and attack the other
>cancer cells in the patient's body.
>>I'm wondering whether this idea has been tried or not.
This idea has actually been tried in a slightly different format to fight
certain types of T-cell lymphomas.
The patient is given a drug which makes his cells sensitive to UV light. The
patient's blood is then passed through the a UV device which kills the
sensitized T-cells. The blood is then given back to the patient. While I've
done a poor job in explaining how the system works, you get the picture. The
cancerous T-cell and some healthy ones are killed and then readministered to the
patient to act as antigen for the immune system. If I remember correctly, the
procedure uses peripheral blood as a source of the T-cells because it is easy to
obtain and contain about 10% of the total number of T-cells. The procedure does
work but a major drawback is that it is still experimental and it is not a one
time procedure. The patients must stay on the treatment. Last time I heard the
person doing the research was thinking about trying the same procedure on HIV
infected individuals.
Bart Corsaro
Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines and Pediatrics
211 Bailey Rd.
West Henrietta, NY, USA 14586-9728
Email: Bart_Corsaro_at_USLRMG01 at internetmail.pr.cyanamid.com
