An experimental cancer treatment that functions similarly to a vaccine proved effective in lymphoma patients, according to the results of a small study published in Nature Medicine.
For the study, researchers from New York City-based Mount Sinai Hospital tested the "in situ vaccination" on 11 patients with advanced-stage lymphoma. The vaccine, injected directly into a tumor, contains immune stimulants that instruct the immune system to destroy the tumor and other cancerous cells in the body.
Researchers found some patients entered full remission for months to years after receiving the treatment. They are also testing the vaccine in breast cancer and head and neck cancer patients through a clinical trial that started in March.
"The in situ vaccine approach has broad implications for multiple types of cancer," lead author Joshua Brody, MD, director of the lymphoma immunotherapy program at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine, said in a press release. "This method could also increase the success of other immunotherapies such as checkpoint blockade."
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