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The procedure is designed to tackle obstacles that stop white blood cells from fighting cancer cells. NBC’s Robert Bazell reports. We’re back with big health news out of this weekend’s meeting of more than 40,000 cancer doctors. Tonight, there’s a promising new study getting a lot of attention. Doctors hope it could lead to a new attack against some of the deadliest forms of cancer. We get more from our chief science correspondent, Robert Bazell
Reporter: it is a new approach using the body’s immune system to kill cancer. it helped David, a retired Baltimore policeman who had advanced lung cancer .
I was at basically looking at living month to month.
Reporter: scan shows tumor, seen here melting away over a period of months. Ken Kirkwood, who had advanced kidney cancer, saw similar results.
I couldn’t believe it, but in about four or five months or so, i was starting to see shrinkage in my limp nodes and my lungs and the area where the kidney had been removed.
Reporter: doctors also saw positive results with advanced melanoma.
There is a common denominator for many kinds of cancer. This is really unprecedented. There are so many exciting opportunities.
Reporter: the treatment is in its earliest phase.
Typically in a phase one trial, you don’t expect much, but we saw activity, so some tumor, completely shrinking away.
Reporter: here’s how it works. White blood cells, which kill bacteria and viruses, often try to kill cancer cells, but the cancer puts up a barrier. The treatment is designed to bring that barrier down. Tumors shrank in 18 to 28%, depending on the type of cancer. At this weekend’s conference, planning is underway for bigger trials, comparing and looking at side effects. For more than a century, scientists have been working to harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Only now is that starting to pay off.
I just wanted to live long enough for the cure and maybe i have. Maybe I’m part of it.
Reporter: while it’s not a cure, for many, it’s a hopeful beginning. Robert Bazell ,
Courtesy of NBC News, Chicago.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2012 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Changing the Face of Lung Cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.