But 15 years later, it has been approved for treating only two types of cancer - advanced melanoma, or skin cancer, and advanced kidney cancer. Although interleukin-2 may not be the cure for cancer, it is one of the drugs in a category of treatment called immunotherapy, which Asher and others have found so appealing. White is using interleukin-2 to stimulate the immune systems of patients with kidney cancer and melanoma that have spread. He is also working with Dr. Walter Holder, director of surgical research at Carolinas Medical Center, to test a vaccine to prevent the recurrence of melanoma. The molecular approach These breakthroughs stem from a new understanding about how cells work.
Doctors now know more about what makes a tumor a tumor.
For example, interleukin-2 acts by stimulating the immune system to recognize and destroy tumor cells. Other new drugs take aim at the defects in genes and the proteins they produce. They are designed to interfere with the processes that make a normal cell malignant. An example is Herceptin, a monoclonal antibody, one of a group of drugs designed to attack specific cancer cells. A recent study suggested that Herceptin can benefit patients with breast cancer that has spread.