Immunization Newsbriefs (c) Copyright Information Inc., Bethesda, MD. Brought to you by the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii). Visit NNii's new website at http://www.immunizationinfo.org.
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February 05, 2003
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Toward a Cancer Cure"
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (www.pioneerplanet.com) (02/03/03) P. 1B; Majeski, Tom
Tony Glavan has joined the effort that may lead to a possible cancer vaccine after being diagnosed with low-grade B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, an incurable cancer of the lymph system. Now the 46-year-old Medtronic analyst technician has become the first person in the upper Midwest to test a new vaccine developed for him from his own tumor cells. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., are hoping that the new vaccine will cause Glavan's immune system to identify the cancer cells as invaders and destroy them. It wasn't until his cancer had progressed enough to need treatment that Glavan finally contacted the Mayo Clinic, where physicians extracted cells from his tumors and sent them to a California biotechnology firm called Genitope that converted the cells into a personalized vaccine. Glavan then underwent the first of eight chemotherapy sessions in an effort to initially kill as many cancer cells as possible. In January, he began the first series of vaccine and human growth factor injections in a program that would last seven months. He hopes the vaccine will convert his cancer into a chronic disease--one that can be controlled.
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