The Possibility of a Lymphoma Vaccine
Lymphoma is a form of cancer that affects the lymphocyte cells of the immune system and because it travels in both the lymphatic system and in the blood stream it can quickly spread around the body and cause devastating damage to the internal organs.
At the present time there are a number of options regarding treatment for lymphoma however in advanced cases these treatments rarely cure the disease and merely help to prolong life. Thus it important that research continues until a cure is found or alternatively until a vaccine is developed which would make people immune to the cancer. While a vaccine would not help people who have already been diagnosed with lymphoma it would guarantee that virtually nobody developed the disease in the future.
Vaccines work in a strange but very effective way. Generally a vaccine is composed of attenuated cells of the disease that they are designed to stop. This means that in the case of lymphoma, inactive lymphoma cells would be injected into the body so that the body responds by producing antibodies to the foreign cells. Then, if in the future the vaccinated individual develops true lymphoma, the immune system would remember the cancerous cells and act to kill them before they could develop and do any harm.
While this sounds like an easy thing to do unfortunately it will take years of research because there are numerous subtypes of lymphoma and each one looks slightly different to the immune system. It would only take a slight mutation of the cancerous lymphoma cells for the immune system to stop recognizing them.
There are many accomplished scientists that are working on developing a vaccine all around the world, one of which is Doctor Butler, a member of the Investigative Clinical Research team in Indiana, USA. His potential vaccine would ideally be used in conjunction with other lymphoma treatments, such as chemotherapy, to actually help eradicate already present lymphoma i.e. it won't work like traditional vaccines that stop a disease before it develops. By fusing genetically engineered cells with cells from the patient's tumor, Doctor Butler hopes to stimulate the natural immune system so that it follows the lead of the engineered cells and kills the cancerous cells itself.
Research is continuing on the vaccine however it has recently been approved for clinical trials and so it is a definite possibility for the future. Unfortunately because of strict regulations, even if it does prove to be successful in the clinical trials it will still be at least 5-10 years before it is commercially available, and then it will probably only be offered to those who are high risk candidates for lymphoma.
If a vaccine can be developed for lymphoma then this will open the door for the development of other cancer vaccines. It is very unlikely that cancer will ever be truly eradicated from the human race because at the end of the day many cases are due to genetic mutations of the normal cellular DNA and nobody can say where and when these will occur however vaccines could reduce the number of cancer sufferers dramatically, meaning that all research is necessary research.