As an aside, what makes this a vaccine vs a treatment?

quantumwoke 2 years ago | parent | next [-]

My wife (MD) tells me that vaccine refers to anything that induces an immune response against a pathogen or disease. In this case the vaccine causes anti-EGFR antibody production

	▲	JPLeRouzic 2 years ago \| parent [-]
		> In this case the vaccine causes anti-EGFR antibody production English is not my native tongue so I have some problem to parse your sentence. I prefer the writing in the publication cited above [0] even if it's probably the same meaning: "CIMAvax-EGF is a therapeutic cancer vaccine composed of human recombinant EGF" [0] https://aacrjournals.org/clincancerres/article/22/15/3782/79...

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spondylosaurus 2 years ago | parent | prev [-]

> Neither of the vaccines prevents cancer; rather, they are a kind of immunotherapy that prompts the body’s immune system to battle the disease in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Not 100% sure, because I've only heard about vaccines in preventative contexts before, but based on this description my guess would be that "anything that tells your immune system to Do Stuff" counts as a vaccine. Versus something like Herceptin, which also treats cancer, just with ready-made antibodies that were grown in a lab.

	▲	pfdietz 2 years ago \| parent [-]
		There are also immune modulators that aren't vaccines. Interferon, for example, or more recently the famous checkpoint inhibitors that take the brakes off immune attack of cancer cells.