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Oncology
Cancer Immunotherapy
Cancer is characterized by aberrations in cell growth and differentiation. The establishment and spread of a tumor is a function of its growth characteristics and its ability to suppress or evade the body's normal defenses, including surveillance and the elimination of cancer cells by the immune system. Eradication of malignant cells that can metastasize, or spread, to vital organs, leading to death, is central to the effective treatment of cancer.
Despite recent advances in treatment, therapies for many types of cancer suffer from serious limitations. The principal therapies for cancer have historically been surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. A significant drawback to conventional anti-cancer therapy is that both occult, or hidden, and residual disease is difficult or impossible to eliminate fully, which can lead to relapse.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer affecting U.S. males and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men each year. The American Cancer Society estimates that 27,350 men died from prostate cancer and 234,460 new cases were diagnosed in 2006 in the U.S.
Conventional therapies for prostate cancer include radical prostectomy, in which the prostate gland is surgically removed, radiation and hormone therapies and chemotherapy. Surgery and radiation therapy may result in urinary incontinence and impotence. Hormone therapy and chemotherapy are generally not intended to be curative and are not actively used to treat localized, early-stage prostate cancer.