CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) -Researchers at The University of Virginia Health Center are bringing hope to cancer treatment.

They are using an alternative, innovative treatment. They treat patients with “immunotherapy,” where immune cells are used to kill cancer cells.

Doctor Lawrence Lum with UVA Health uses an antibody approach to kill the tumor cells and he says it’s exciting to see the success. He also adds that he’s already seen people with fatal diagnoses live longer because of his approach.

“This mechanism for doing that is growing a lot of warfighters,” Lum said. “Putting them in and having them vaccinate the patient against their own tumor, so they can provide long-term vigilance and anti-tumor activity, which then leads to improved survival.”

Lum has been working on this research for almost 10 years and says the next step is administering it in combination with other standard cancer therapies to prevent a relapse.

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