Scientists Think the Flu Shot Could Help Fight Cancer

Scientists Think the Flu Shot Could Help Fight Cancer

It improves the immune system’s response to tumors.

Strawberries, exercise, the right kind of tea and now…the flu shot.

Do you believe it? Can the flu vaccine really prevent cancer?

It seems like a long shot, but get this. It all comes down to tumors and groups.

There are a few ways to classify tumors. One of them is by putting them into the categories of “cold” and “hot”. Cold tumors either don’t contain very many immune cells, or they harbor cells that actively suppress the powers of the person’s immune system. Hot tumors, on the other hand, tend to have a higher amount of immune cells and/or a better response to treatments meant to eradicate them. Essentially, they respond better to treatment, when it comes to cancer.

Here’s where the flu shot comes in. Researchers from Rush University Medical Center have found that when you inject a cancerous tumor with a flu vaccine, the lumps turn from cold to hot.

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This makes the tumors more recognizable by the immune system, and could potentially raise survival rates.

What kind of shot works? Impressively, even regular, run-of-the-mill FDA-approved seasonal flu shots seem to do the trick. And this is great news. Since it’s already known that these vaccines are safe for humans to use, this means that new cancer treatments involving the use of flu shots in tumors could be brought to patients relatively quickly. Clinical trials may not be so prolonged.

“These results propose that eventually both patients who respond and who do not respond to other immunotherapies might benefit from the injection of influenza vaccines into the tumor,” said Andrew Zloza, MD, PhD, assistant professor in Rush Medical College’s Department of Internal Medicine and senior author of the study.

“(This) may increase the small proportion of patients that are now long-term responders to immunotherapies,” he added.

Excited? Read all about it, here.

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