Immunotherapy attacks aberrant cervical growth
Treatment might stop cancers before they arise
By Nathan Seppa
Three shots in the arm can awaken the immune system to home in on aberrant growths on the cervix, potentially derailing cancer in the making. When given to 12 women with the precancerous condition, the injections triggered the homegrown attack and wiped out wayward cells in a matter of weeks in five of the patients, scientists report in the Jan. 29 Science Translational Medicine.
The study joins a small body of research showing that immunotherapy can gain traction against cancer or premalignant growths. This approach is sometimes described as a “cancer vaccine,” but that term is slightly misleading. Immunotherapy enlists the immune system as a vaccine does, but to treat a disease, not prevent it. In this case, the immunotherapy includes a mix of proteins, genes and a virus. The combination guides immune cells like a searchlight to deranged, precancerous cells that have been commandeered by the human papillomavirus.