Preclinical studies
demonstrated that "killer" T cells consistently rejected growing
cancers and cured cancer-bearing rodents. Those therapeutic effects
were made possible by the fact that rodent cancers are immunogenic and
that "killer" T cells could be produced against any immunogenic cancer.
In order for human cancers to be susceptible to immunotherapy with "killer" T cells, human cancers have to be immunogenic. Human cancer vaccines must be able to stimulate the immune system to recognize and respond against progressing human cancers. The
data presented in the following table demonstrate that, like experimental animal cancers, human
cancers are immunogenic. Vaccinating cancer patients with their own cancer cells and an immunological adjuvant induces anti-cance immune responses. therefore could be susceptible to a
form of cancer specific immunotherapy that employs "killer" T cells as
the primary anti-cancer agent. These outcomes are consistent with the outcomes of published cancer vaccine studies.
Determining the Immunogenicity of Human Cancers*
Cancer # Patients % Positive
Brain 36 92
Breast 20 90
Colon 13 92
Lung 25 88
Kidney 17 88
Skin (Melanoma) 14 75
Ovary 5 100
Total 130 89
*Method:
Vaccinate patient with patient's own cancer cells and
GM-CSF and then test for
immunity using delayed type hypersensitivity skin testing with
the patient's own cancer cells.
Approximately 90%
of cancer patients, including brain and kidney cancer patients, developed immune
responses against their own cancers following a single intradermal
vaccination. That means that most, if not all human cancers are immunogenic and therefore
potentially susceptible to a form of cancer specific immunotherapy that employs "killer" T cells as
the primary anti-cancer agent.
The Outcomes section
provides a summary of the human clinical studies demonstrating that
"killer T cells could be effective against human cancers in the same
way that they were effective against rodent cancers.
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