JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For the past 20 years, Dr. Keith Knutson, Professor of Immunology at Mayo Clinic says he practically lives in the lab.
“This is where we do all the processing of the human samples,” he said.
The samples are from patients across the country living with breast cancer.
Knutson and his team work long hours in the cancer vaccine research lab, looking for answers to the same questions he's been asking since he started working at Mayo Clinic.
“What part of the immune system has helped patients survive their breast cancer? Or what is helping patients prevent resurgence with their breast cancer?” he asked.
Although Knutson doesn’t have all the solutions yet, he has seven different cancer vaccines in clinical trials. All can give breast cancer patients more time to live and even protect patients who have never received a breast cancer diagnosis.
“The immune system plays a critical role in protecting patients from disease progression and protecting patients from disease at all. So we’re trying to harness that power, and step in and boost the immune system,” Knutson said.
A breakthrough in cancer research made possible not only by the people, but the new technology in the lab. The things Knutson used to do by hand are now done by a machine.
“They’ve given us new directions to move forward with different vaccine approaches that we can design,” Knutson said.
Out of the seven cancer vaccines in clinical trials, half have already moved on to phase two and are halfway through the process to become available to patients.