Prognosis

Cancer Vaccine Study Offers Hope for Patients With Lynch Syndrome

NOUS-209 study shows strong immune response in participants.
Photographer: Michael Dantas/AFP/Getty Images
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Hi, it’s Jason in Melbourne. Cancer vaccines usually arrive after bad news, once tumors have already taken hold. A new study asks whether immunity itself can get in first, training the body to head off disease before it ever forms. More on that in a moment, but first …

For people born with Lynch syndrome, cancer risk isn’t hypothetical. The inherited condition, found in about 1 in 280 people, sharply increases the odds of developing colorectal, endometrial and several other cancers, often at younger ages.