Most of my friends are under the impression that vaccines can be used to prevent some diseases, such as hepatitis B, influenza, polio, etc., but I am afraid that you will question the ability to prevent cancer. In the world, there is only one vaccine that can prevent cancer, and it can only prevent one type of cancer. The others are still in the research and development stage.
The only vaccine that can prevent cancerCurrently, there is no vaccine that prevents cancer as the main indication for a domestic vaccine. The only imported vaccines are bivalent, quadrivalent and the nine-valent HPV vaccine to be marketed, which is clearly labeled in the indications to prevent precancerous changes in cervical cells and cervical cancer caused by a specific oncogenic type of human papillomavirus (HPV).The successful development of the HPV vaccine means that cancer prevention in mankind has entered an epoch-making new stage.
Specific antigen is too difficult to findThe more easily realized vaccine to prevent cancer is that some are directly caused by viruses or tumor cells express virus-related antigens, then develop a vaccine against specific viral antigens, so that the body can produce corresponding antibodies against these viruses, and once the virus that can cause cancer appears, it can be directly taken out to protect the human body and achieve the purpose of preventing cancer.
This is not the case for most other cancers, where it is more difficult to find tumor-specific antigens, which has driven researchers and developers, who had once seen the light of day, crazy, because the vast majority of antigens are also found on normal cells, and even if a vaccine is developed, it will have no effect at all on combating them.
Even if we could find antigens specific to tumor cells and develop vaccines against them, unfortunately the vast majority of them would fail. These antigens are often only effective against less than 5% of certain types of tumors, and their effectiveness is difficult to determine.
And the ability of such antigens to provoke an immune response is so weak that scientists and major pharmaceutical companies have tried repeatedly without success. Tumors are so complex and cunning that as soon as a tumor cell recognizes that there is an outside attack, it will find a way to resist it. In particular, there is strong immunosuppression in the local microenvironment of tumor cells. In other words, tumor cells can evade immune detection by not expressing these specific antigens, etc. Even if they can provoke a human immune response, they leave these well-designed vaccines with no targets to attack.
A truly effective approachWe certainly expect a vaccine to prevent cancer to be available sooner rather than later, even if it is to be attacked one by one. But it's not yet possible, and it may still not be possible in the next few years or even a decade. To prevent cancer, early screening is very important. In the early stage of cancer, there must be some special manifestations, such as abnormal expression of tumor markers like AFP, CEA, etc., and unexplained pain in a certain part of the body, all of which should attract enough attention. Your body is your own. Keeping a healthy life and staying away from carcinogens and cancer-causing factors are the best measures to prevent cancer!
Biography of Dr. No DrugsDr. No Drugs, Associate Chief Pharmacist, Senior Nutritionist, has 11 years of experience in medication guidance, nutritional counseling and health management. Dr. No Medicine advocates healthy living, no sickness, no medicine!