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Chris_2767 t1_ivx3ohi wrote

I am baffled by the idea that there can even be such a thing as a cancer vaccine

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Environmental_Cake97 t1_ivy03nb wrote

Well yeah. The problem with cancer is that it is immune privileged. It’s IS part of your body. Even when it was caused by a virus, the part that replicates like a bacterial colony is still you.

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Zozorrr t1_ivy6iho wrote

Just think of it in terms of getting your adaptive immune system to recognize cancer cells in your body as foreign (ie not “self”). If that helps.

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Chris_2767 t1_iw6qclf wrote

that's precisely what I find so baffling about it. It sounds like unreal scientific progress

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pittguy578 t1_ix6i1pf wrote

I think with increased computing power .. including quantum computing.. we may be on the verge of some real breakthroughs in medicine. Plus the fact just in general real time data can be shared between researchers is also increasing the pace of advancement

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unripenedboyparts t1_iw0bo52 wrote

There may also be a vaccine for multiple sclerosis in our lifetime. And not just the one for EBV (a proposed cause of MS).

So many diseases are either caused by immune processes or prevented by them. It's insane.

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SerialStateLineXer t1_iw6musw wrote

A vaccine is a drug that trains your immune system to attack a particular thing. A flu vaccine trains your immune system to attack flu viruses. A cancer vaccine trains your immune system to attack cancer cells.

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