Today a founding editor of Med City news, Mary Vanac, reported that Cleveland Clinic immunologist, Dr. Vincent Tuohy has discovered a vaccine that prevents breast cancer in mice. This is extremely exciting and encouraging.
It’s an experiment
that has been working in his lab ever since 2002. We can only hope that his
findings apply to human beings, and that his enthusiasm for developing a
vaccine that prevents women age 40+ from ever getting breast cancer will be justifiable. If
that happens he will be deserving of the Nobel Prize, for sure!
It's absolutely great that human protocols for this
vaccine will begin within a year. On a note of caution it should be pointed out
that on average only one of 10 medical cures that work on mice or rats also
applies to people. Let's hope this is The One!
Speaking as a prostate cancer survivor, healthcare
educator and author, I only hope
that Dr. Tuohy's wish that vaccines like his (that prevent prostate cancer, rather than retard it once it begins, as Provenge does), will be developed for adults with
breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer and so forth, will come to
fruition. His vaccine is the first to prevent a cancer rather than retard it, the way Provenge works to extend advanced cancer patients' lives for 4 extra months.
As the old saying has it, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," or for that matter, any kind of intervention.
For details of the new prostate cancer vaccine see: http://www.medcitynews.com/2009/06/cleveland-clinic-researcher-surprised-by-and-grateful-for-nih-grant-to-develop-breast-cancer-vaccine.
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