Doctors are finding success in treating cervical cancer by boosting the body’s immune system to fight the disease.
Two women who had cervical cancer are now cancer-free after doctors administered an infusion of immune system cells that had been multiplied in a lab.
{mosads}The treatments were doctors’ first success in using immunotherapy to fight cervical cancer, according to The Associated Press.
They took place as part of a study at the National Cancer Institute.
One of the two women recovered after strong chemotherapy and radiation failed to stop her cancer from spreading.
She was given less than one year to live, but has been cancer-free for 17 months after the infusion.
The other woman has been clear for 15 months.
The treatment was not successful for seven other women who took part in the NCI study, though one saw her tumors shrinks for three months.
Researchers are testing immunotherapy against other cancers caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV, the AP reported.