Hand-held device can be use to inject a vaccine to a cancer patient.  The vaccine shot in two places – in the arms and legs.  Through the use of electricity, the device boosts the effectiveness of the vaccine by 100-fold.

Right now, around four UK hospitals are using it against the most serious form of cancer in UK.

However, the British scientist, who created the device, the hospitals did not use the full potential of the device since it could also treat other diseases like other forms of cancers that can be seen in areas like lung, throat, liver, stomach, prostate, ovarian and bladder.

The device uses a vaccine in order to help fight cancer.  Traditional vaccines  used in preventing diseases has a weakened version of the diseases’ microbes.  Since it is too weak, it only stimulates the immune system against the harmful invaders.

Researchers use the same technology with the cancer treatment.  The only difference is that the vaccine did not train the antibodies to seek and destroy the cancer cells.  The vaccine marks the cancer cells so that the antibody could easily recognize it.

The vaccine comes in the form of liquid, so it is easy to inject the whole thing to the body.  There are two parts of the body, where it should be injected so that the body can effectively use the vaccine.  It marks the cancer cells sine it has the same composition as the antigens in the cancer cells.

Once that the vaccine already inside the body, it prepares the cells allowing antibodies to find and destroy cancers cells easily.

The vaccine got created by Nottingham-based Company Scancell, a company run by Lindy Durrant, professor of cancer immunotherapy at Nottingham University.

Aside from developing the vaccine, the company is also responsible for the development of the small hand-held device used in treating the cancers.  The hand-held device has four electrodes and one syringe.

The device must be placed on the upper arm or leg of the patient. The needle that contains the vaccine as it gets push by an electrical pulse in the electrodes to create an opening, which allows the DNA to enter the cells.

If there is no electricity, the DNA would take a lot of time before it could reach its destination.  Therefore, the immune system would have a hard time finding the DNA.

However, when it gets injected with electricity, it sends signals throughout the whole body.  The immune cells engage in the area.