Implants mimic infection to rally immune system against tumors
Friday, January 23, 2009 - 12:01
in Health & Medicine
Harvard bioengineers have shown that small plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and implanted under the skin can reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack tumors.The research — which rid 90 percent of mice of an aggressive form of melanoma that would usually kill the rodents within 25 days — represents the most effective demonstration to date of a cancer vaccine.David J. Mooney and colleagues describe the research in the current issue of the journal Nature Materials.read more