The growing number of reports documenting successful immunotherapy of tumor patients and the increasing knowledge of the mechanisms governing immune reactions against tumor cells warrant further experimental efforts in this area. Currently, the most widely method of treating cancer is through: chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. However, immunotherapy represents the new age of cancer treatment. In this research we looked at several different immunotherapy strategies in order to validate the idea that immunotherapy is a viable method of cancer treatment.

Every year, about 1.25 million people in the United States are diagnosed with life-threatening forms of cancer (NIH, 1995). For the past four-decades, both the incidence and age-adjusted death rate from cancer in America has been steadily increasing. Cancer is defined as an abnormal growth, caused by underlying disease involving the whole body. It is not just limited to a lump or bump (NIH, 1995). Doctors today try to control cancer in three ways: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. The latter two of these methods are harmful to the body in that they are invasive towards both cancerous a

Thus, there are many clues that immunotherapy may be a better treatment for cancer, As T.J. Koerner, scientific program director for the Atlanta-based American Cancer Society puts it, "Cancer immunotherapy is very promising, but it needs more research" (Lewis, 1995). With such research, it is possible that immunotherapy may lead to new and improved methods to face cancer.

Moreover, in a current research conducted by National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md, In all but one of the 21 patients given vaccine for Lymphoma, researchers detected signs that the immune system was fighting lymphoma cells (McKinney, 1999). This does not indicate that this is a cure for this cancer, however, it does signify that vaccines of this nature does promote the immune system's ability to fight cancer when the immune system is stimulated.

Consequently, many researchers have used combination therapy to obtain positive results. One study used immunotherapy along with chemotherapy to provide a significant results. In a current research, Dr. Tim Steele, an assistant professor in the Division of Basic Medical Sciences, injects tumor cells into the abdominal cavities of mice. Four days after the injection, he gives the mice a dose of BCNU, a chemotherapy substance commonly used to treat human brain tumors. Two days later, he injects Reovirus type 3, a nonpathogenic virus. He quotes that "We see anywhere from 65 percent to 100 percent survival of these tumor-bearing mice." Some of the mice with cancer received only the virus injection, and none survived. Those patients given only chemotherapy had a 10 percent survival rate. However, Dr. Steele found one aspect of his research the most interesting: After 60 days or longer, he injects the cured mice with a lethal dose of tumor cells. In every single case, the anima!

2 therapy to human cancer patients, as good therapeutic results can be obtained with a single injection of IL-2.

8. Lewis, R., End Of Century Marks Dawn Of Clinical Trial Era For Cancer Vaccines., The Scientist, Vol:9, #7, April 3, 1995

Some common words found in the essay are:
York City, Treatment Abstract, Cancer Vaccines, Ken Wasserman, AKR/J SL2, University Cambridge, Prospects Future, Chiron IL-2, Institute Health, University Munich, immune system, cancer cells, nih 1995, tumor cells, immune response, monoclonal antibodies, cancer patients, bernstein 1980, treating cancer, radiation therapy, immune response modifiers, cancer nih 1995, cancer immunology immunotherapy, immunology immunotherapy vol48, strategies tumor cells,
Approximate Word count = 2898
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)