We're still basking in the hot sun, bronzing our bodies in tanning beds, and playing outdoors without slathering on the sunscreen. What will it take, I wonder, for our society to catch on, to take real steps toward preventing skin cancer?

It seems education isn't enough. Most of us know by now all it takes is one bad sunburn to increase our risk of skin cancer, yet we continue to collect burn after burn after burn. Perhaps like all habit-forming behaviors -- think smoking -- it takes something tragic in our lives to inspire change. When someone we know gets lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking or someone we know develops melanoma after years of sunbathing, maybe we get the hint. Maybe

Now, I know you don't personally know this young woman -- she calls herself Miss Melanoma -- but I suggest you read her story. And I recommend you take what happened to her -- she lost part of her foot to melanoma and is currently battling a spread of the disease -- and allow it to really sink in, allow it to motivate you to take cover from the sun, before something like this happens to you. Because it can.

This is a big question for those in the field of cancer immunotherapy, treatment based upon the concept of adjusting the immune system to reject and destroy tumors.

The National Cancer Institute along with a company called NewLink Genetics are looking to get FDA approval to start clinical trials of a drug that restricts a natural mechanism for immune suppression.

This enzyme named IDO, has been shown to help the fetus avoid rejection by the mother's immune system. This discovery led scientists to suspect and later prove that tumors express IDO.

Will suppressing IDO in humans help the immune system to seek out and kill cancer cells? This is what these scientists want to find out.

Doctor Mellor, a pediatric oncologist, says "What (cancers) do, we think, is make a protective cocoon so the immune system does not attack the tumor, so that gives you the therapeutic opportunity. If you stop IDO from blocking the response, you should allow the response, so now the specificity of the immune system is brought to bear directly on tumor cells"

Interesting stuff!

Follicular lymphoma is considered to be a low grade lymphoma. It is a kind of non-Hodgkins lymphoma that is considered slow growing. At this time advanced follicular NHL cannot be cured by standard treatment.

The Journal of Clinical Oncology published results that showed treatment with the chemotherapy regimen CHOP ( cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone) followed by Bexxar, a radio immunotherapeutic agent, that can provided long-term anticancer responses in patients with advanced follicular lymphoma.

According to the article - Radio immunotherapy involves treatment with a radioactive substance linked to an antibody. The antibody attaches to cancer cells when injected into the body. By delivering the radiation directly to the cancer, more normal tissue is spared from radiation, and there are fewer side effects.

Researchers conducted a clinical trial to evaluate 90 patients with advanced follicular NHL. Patients were treated with CHOP followed by Bexxar.

The study showed that overall anticancer response was 90 percent when receiving Bexxar after CHOP regime. At five years the overall survival was 87 percent and at five years, the progression-free survival rate was 68 percent.

A Phase III trial is now underway and is going to compare CHOP plus Bexxar to CHOP plus Rituxan.

At this time, there are 200 companies engaged in 600 clinical trials that involve 340 immunotherapy drugs -- all under study in an attempt to assist in the treatment of 40 different cancers. The top five targeted cancers are melanoma, breast, lung, prostate, and colorectal.

While antibody studies are the top headline-makers right now, cancer vaccines are following behind. With the recent approval of Gardasil -- the cervical cancer vaccine -- the push for more vaccine options will become strong. Future industry challenges also include discovering strong antigens, effective immunomodulators, and suitable delivery technologies.

Powerful drugs like Avastin, Erbitux, and Rituxan are just the precursors to what might lie ahead for cancer patients as a result of this widespread effort to knock cancer out of the ballpark.

Starchild Abraham Cherrix, a 16-year-old cancer patient who is battling Hodgkin's disease ended his legal fight with a victory Wednesday when his family's attorneys and social services officials reached an agreement that would allow him to forgo chemotherapy.

Cherrix who has struggled with the disease once before and having it reoccur, decided he wanted to take an alternative healing method to treat the disease the second time around. Social service officials fought that decision.

Under the court ruling, Cherrix will be treated by an oncologist of his choice who is board-certified in radiation therapy and interested in alternative treatments. The family must provide the court updates on Abraham's treatment and condition every three months until he's cured or turns 18. Cherrix is still on the Hoxsey method, an herbal treatment that is illegal in the United States but can be obtained through clinics in Mexico, but the family hasn't ruled out other possible treatments, such as immunotherapy or radiation treatment in small doses.

In an interview with the Globe, We're on the way to making cancer a chronic but tolerable disease, one of the leading oncology experts in the US, John Hopkins Medical Institution cancer researcher David Sidransky, states that we are undergoing a profound change in the way cancer is thought of -- from a deadly disease to a chronic one that will be treated much the same as diabetes or heart disease is currently managed.

With individualized treatments and new drugs, Dr Sidransky predicts that chemotherapy dosages can be reduced and in some cases, not needed as a part of cancer treatment. When asked what he thought chemotherapy drug manufacturers reaction to this might be, he explained that patents on most chemotherapy drugs have already expired, and these companies are working on the next generation of cancer treatments -- such as drugs to manipulate the immune system.

Most of the interview focus is on business and the development of Israel's biotechnology industry, and it is a peek into the potential future of cancer treatments. The bottom line is cancer treatment is driven by the business of drug companies. Paying attention to what they are talking about and what direction they are headed gives us an idea what we can expect in new treatments.