Nacario's Digital Scrapbook

• The FDA are in the process of approving a new vaccine called Provenge, which can be used to give men with prostate cancer a greater chance of survival. It acts like chemotherapy, just without the side effects.
• The vaccine is not a cure, a way to prevent prostate cancer, and doesn't slow the growth of the cancer. But if used on prostate cancer in it's early stages, it can be highly effective. Provenge is therapeutic and the way it works is it uses the patient's own white blood cells. It mixes with a drug and is inserted back into the patient. The cells once returned to the body trigger a immune response that kills the cancer cells and leaves the treated cells alone.
• The drug is used primarily for men with advanced prostate cancer who failed with hormonal treatments. The use of Provenge has increased the life span of a patient from 2-3 months to 2-3 years. The price for this drug is not cheap, a whopping $75,000 bill has to be paid for treatment, which can have different results with each patient.
• The side effects are minimal, showing only mild flu symptoms. However Provenge itself is flawed in it's own way. The process is on a daily basis, where the patient must donate his own white blood cells every day. It is cumbersome because of this and costs a lot. The rival of Provenge is Abiraterone, which stops the production of testosterone.
• The relation of this article to our class is within the context of cancer and the immune system. This new drug Provenge is a new treatment option for men with Prostate cancer and it utilizes the patient's own immune system to fight cancer cells, where they couldn't previously. This is different from chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, and it has less severe side effects.

I am very concerned of prostate cancer because it is the second most common cancer amongst men. I fear for my family because cancer has affected us very much. I am glad to see this as an alternative to chemotherapy because if I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I wouldn't want to be spending my time in more pain than necessary. Even if though this is a new drug, I think that it is a step into a new type of treatment, allowing the immune system to act properly and kill cancer cells. My only complaint with this treatment is the fact that a patient has to donate white blood cells daily. It would be a real pain in the neck to drive to a hospital day after day when you may have plans set or you live a fair distance away from a hospital. I think think that over time, this treatment will evolve and become more effective and cheaper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MvPVq9gK2M