Thank you Arthur . A serious topic, but if I may make a " Little " correction – the appendix is attached to Large Bowel ( caecum ) ; its exact position varies within the abdomen, so surgeons are aware of this when operating for suspected appendicitis ( " caecum and ye shall find " ! ) .


Immunotherapy is portrayed in the media as a new, fifth, way to " fight cancer " ( the others being surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy ). Each and all of the four have helped improve the outlook for most cancers. Immunotherapy is not even new – it’s been tried for half a century.


We know our immune system CAN and DOES attack cancers. People with weak immune systems ( through illness such as HIV/AIDS, or treatment of transplant recipients ) have increased risk of cancers ; the main known risk factors for cancers also affect the system ; and cancers themselves weaken it in several ways.


There is NO universal cancer vaccine to stimulate the immune system to reject cancer cells ; vaccines such as for cervical and liver cancer act against viruses known to cause them ( Human Papilloma Virus and hepatitis B ).


Much of the recent work has centred round making drugs which attack " checkpoint proteins " on cancer cells, so they can’t " fool " the immune system into letting them carry on proliferating.

These drugs may increase survival of various cancers by months, but don’t always work and are not curative. Huge costs make them lucrative for drug companies. Hopefully competing drugs will hit the market and immunotherapy will prove worthwhile, in ADDITION to the other four methods of treatment.


http://filipinaroses.com/showthread....-your-immunity