In response, Wyss’ researchers took a best-of-both-worlds approach, mixing chemo-and-immunotherapy drugs together. On top of that, they added synthetic DNA strands that improve immune response further and, crucially, strands that prevent cancer cells from hiding from treatment. The approach kills a bunch of cancer cells, and then directs immune response to attack them ,and anything that looks like it, nearby.
On laboratory tests in mice which had Triple-Negative, researchers found that the cocktail improved immune response by around eight percent. More importantly, they claim that all of the mice who were infected, treated and re-infected were able to survive without relapsing. It’s still very, very early days, but it’s possible that this general-purpose approach could make an effective cancer vaccine.