Prostate cancer vaccines

Most people think of vaccines as protection against diseases such as measles,mumps, and polio. But researchers are giving the word vaccine a whole new meaning as they look for ways to jump-start men's immune systems in the fight against advanced prostate cancer.
The prostate vaccine is not a vaccine in the true sense. It's often referred to as such because it boosts a cancer patient's immune response against the disease and because it is administered in a series of injections.
Here's how it works. One of the problems associated with treating cancer is that the immune system doesn't recognize the cancerous cells as the enemy. Instead of attacking tumor cells, the immune system's defenses treat them as a natural part of the body. With the prostate cancer vaccine, specialized white blood cells called dendritic cells are drawn fromthe body and treated in the laboratory so that they become sensitive to malignant cells.Then the dendritic cells are injected back into the body, where they launch an attack on the cancer.
The vaccine is currently being designed for use by men with advanced prostate cancer that hasn't responded to other forms of treatment and by those whose prostate cancer has returned after being treated. Eventually, however, researchers hope the vaccine will become a primary form of treatment for the disease.