The Hope

• Receing a Vaccine
  
  The next big step in cancer therapy is believed to be inside one's immune system. Many scientists believe that by boosting the immune system, it will fight the cancer on its own, thereby eliminating the need for the therapies of today. While the initial trial of Provenge was successful, it is believed scientists have a long way to go before anyone can claim that a cure or vaccine for cancer has been found.
  
  

What Is Happening Now

• Conducting Experiments
  
  Scientist are working on making synthetic vaccines that when mixed with a person's cells will not be rejected by the body causing an immune rejection of the vaccine. In 2007, the FDA requested that it needed more information on patient survivability statistics prior to any further authorization. In response, another study was performed with over 500 candidates with advanced prostate cancer and Provenge, again did better than expected compared to placebo results. All this new information is highly encouraging.
  
  

Get Your Dictionary

• As results and professional reports are made public, understanding medical terminology will be crucial in the ability to understand the progression of these future therapies. These therapies are known as the new class of Active Cellular Immunotherapy's (ACI) and this term will be used often. Its definition is using active or living cells and mixing it with usually a synthetic compound. New words will begin to prop up as word of this vaccine Provenge gets around.
  
  

The Promise

• The vaccine is used to elicit an immune response from your prostate specific antigen or (PSA), a protein that indicates if cancer is present within the prostate. According to James L. Gulley, M.D., Ph.D., of the Center for Cancer Research "Developing an alternative method of administering vaccine therapy that is well tolerated by most patients and produces similar immune responses to standard methods may help further the development of vaccine therapies for prostate cancer."
  
  The promise of these new ACI protocols is amazing and the greatest hope of all is that they work. That scientist, by using active living cells, can boost the immune system's response to fight off this devastating disease.
  
  

The Final Word

• New and wondrous discoveries happen almost on a daily basis and the invention/discovery of Provenge is but just one. Many other products are in the medical pipeline, medicines that offer great promise.