Vaccines are an effective preventive method, however, majority of vaccines are not recommended for immunocompromised individuals as they pose risks. To address this issue, expanding upon the concept of vaccines as a preventative-focussed method is potentially beneficial when creating new interventions and monitoring the correlation between varying immune system function and vaccinations can be considered a viable factor during the development of these interventions. Using cancer patients as the specific demographic of immunocompromised individuals this essay will explain why current vaccine interventions are marginally insufficient in relation to diminishing immunity function. Furthermore, how understanding the mechanisms in terms of tumour
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A prominent direction to follow when developing vaccines would be to consider the relationship between tumour cells and the immune system once infection has occurred instead of a preventative perspective; boost immune systems before exposure to pathogens. A review article by Krüger et al. (2007) mentions how the foundations of vaccines relies upon the effectiveness of the immune system to prevent tumour resistance to form a lifelong anti-tumor immunity. This lifelong immunity is achievable through the understanding of the complex processes between tumor cells and immune system function. Three main aspects of tumor cells which effect immune system dynamics are; first, tumors can lose antigen expression which obstructs production of antibodies allowing the tumours free-reign. Second, tumour cells can generate suppressor T-cells which essentially turns the body’s own defense system against itself as suppressor T-cells subdue the antigen response of B-cells and other T-cells. Third, tumour cells utilizes Fas-L, a protein that when attached to initiates cell apoptosis or cell suicide, on activated T-cells, which limits the amount of activated T-cells available for fighting the tumour cells. Additionally, T-cells being targeted, and antigen disguising abilities are promising features to
A prominent direction to follow when developing vaccines would be to consider the relationship between tumour cells and the immune system once infection has occurred instead of a preventative perspective; boost immune systems before exposure to pathogens. A review article by Krüger et al. (2007) mentions how the foundations of vaccines relies upon the effectiveness of the immune system to prevent tumour resistance to form a lifelong anti-tumor immunity. This lifelong immunity is achievable through the understanding of the complex processes between tumor cells and immune system function. Three main aspects of tumor cells which effect immune system dynamics are; first, tumors can lose antigen expression which obstructs production of antibodies allowing the tumours free-reign. Second, tumour cells can generate suppressor T-cells which essentially turns the body’s own defense system against itself as suppressor T-cells subdue the antigen response of B-cells and other T-cells. Third, tumour cells utilizes Fas-L, a protein that when attached to initiates cell apoptosis or cell suicide, on activated T-cells, which limits the amount of activated T-cells available for fighting the tumour cells. Additionally, T-cells being targeted, and antigen disguising abilities are promising features to