A collaborative study has found that immunization with the vaccine SinoVac might improve responses to treatment in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). The research is published as a “Letter to the Editor” in the journal Annals of Oncology.
Fears that COVID-19 vaccination may interfere with cancer treatment
Cancer cells are clever. They can adapt methods to avoid or divert the body’s immune response to protect their growth and prevent being destroyed. One approach is to target a protein found on T cells called programmed cell death protein 1, or PD-1. When PD-1 is bound to its ligand, PD-L1, it prevents T cells from killing malignant cells. Drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors can block PD-1, releasing the “brakes” on the immune response such that the T cells’ ability to kill cancer cells is unleashed.
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