Is a Vaccine a Treatment?
Vaccines are not necessarily treatments, but they help to prevent diseases saving us from the pain of having to undergo treatments. Vaccines are biologically prepared to stimulate the human immune system when there is an invasion by a particular pathogen. In simple terms, vaccines are weakened versions of the disease they intend to block.
When the weakened, or the attenuated version of the disease is introduced into the body through vaccination, the body will react by producing antibodies corresponding to the antigens present in the pathogens. Since it is the weaker form of the disease, the antibodies will effectively fight off the infection, and the store their memories so that in the event of a subsequent attack, the body doesn’t have to produce new antibodies to fight off the infection.
Treating diseases with vaccines
In as much as traditional vaccines were meant not to treat but prevent diseases, there are current studies trying to explore something completely new in the field of vaccines – therapeutic vaccines. These vaccines are designed to treat disease once it attacks the immune system, and not before it attacks. Current studies have given very strong indications that these vaccines have the potential to radically revolutionize the medical treatment field, and they can be the key to dealing with conditions such as Herpes, HIV, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
How therapeutic vaccines work
Therapeutic vaccines work differently from the travel vaccinations you are probably used to. The standard vaccines are designed to help the immune system develop immunity to a particular pathogen, usually a weakened version of the disease that cannot be harmful to the body. As such, should your immune system come into contact with the pathogen, the system will already know how to fight it.
Therapeutic vaccines, on the other hand, are used after someone contracts a particular disease. It means that you can’t go to a vaccination clinic in Montreal and request the vaccine when you are still okay. The vaccines are designed to work by boosting the immune system’s response to the disease. The immune system normally works very well, but there are certain illnesses such as cancer, HIV, and Alzheimer’s which attack the body, and the immune system doesn’t respond effectively. With some types of cancer, the immune system will fail completely to recognize and fight the invading cells. For viruses like HIV, they are capable of overwhelming the immune system and completely shut it down before it even reacts.
With the use of therapeutic vaccines, the immune system will get a boost in the recognition and fighting off these deadly foreign cells. The following are some of the specific types of therapeutic vaccines being studied and developed:
Antigen vaccines – the introduction of an antigen in the body will prompt the immune system to produce corresponding antibodies to fight it off. There are studies where researchers are using specific cancer antigens to compel the immune system into action.
Tumor cells vaccines – in these vaccines, actual cancer cells are used, but such are removed through surgery. The cells are killed to stop them from producing any harm, and they are tweaked, mostly by adding some chemicals or new genes before being reintroduced into the body. As such, it is hoped that such cells may be successful in forcing the immune system to fight those specific cancerous cells.
DNA Vaccines – one bigger challenge with the traditional vaccines is that they wear off after some time. The system is normally active immediately the vaccine is introduced, but with time, but will eventually return to normal. DNA vaccines are designed to inject some bits of DNA into the cells so that the immune system can stay revved up and alert at all times.