New Way to Fight Cancer Using Old Vaccines

利用舊疫苗對抗癌症的新方法

Jun 25, 2026, 10:21
UKScience

Introduction

Scientists found a way to use old vaccines to kill cancer cells.

科學家發現了一種利用舊疫苗來殺死癌細胞的方法。

Main Body

Some medicines for cancer do not work because the body does not see the cancer. Scientists made a special virus. This virus finds cancer cells and marks them. It uses a part of a malaria vaccine to tell the body to attack the cancer.

有些癌症藥物之所以沒有效果，是因為身體無法偵測到癌症。科學家研發了一種特殊的病毒，這種病毒能尋找癌細胞並將其標記。它利用瘧疾疫苗的一部分，告知身體去攻擊癌症。

They tested this on 60 mice with cancer. Some mice got the malaria vaccine and the new virus. 44 percent of these mice had no more cancer after one year. These mice lived longer than others.

他們在 60 隻患癌小鼠身上進行了測試。部分小鼠接種了瘧疾疫苗和這種新病毒。一年後，這些小鼠中有 44% 不再患有癌症，且這些小鼠的壽命比其他小鼠更長。

This method is good because the virus travels through the whole body. Doctors do not need to put the medicine inside the tumor. This helps when cancer spreads to other parts of the body.

這個方法的優點在於病毒能遍布全身。醫生不需要將藥物直接注入腫瘤內，這對於癌症擴散到身體其他部位的情況非常有幫助。

Scientists can use other vaccines too. They can use vaccines for the flu or COVID-19. Now, the team is talking to the government. They want to start tests on people next year.

科學家也可以使用其他疫苗，例如流感疫苗或 COVID-19 疫苗。目前該團隊正與政府洽談，希望明年能開始進行人體試驗。

Conclusion

This new method uses old vaccines to kill cancer. Doctors want to test it on humans soon.

這種新方法利用舊疫苗來殺死癌症。醫生希望能儘快在人類身上進行測試。

Vocabulary Learning

🧩 Action Words: The 'Simple Present'

Look at these sentences from the text:

  • The virus finds cancer cells.
  • The virus travels through the body.

The Pattern: When we talk about one thing (the virus/it), we add an -s to the action word.

  • I find →\rightarrow It finds
  • I travel →\rightarrow It travels
  • I use →\rightarrow It uses

💡 Useful Word Pairs

In English, some words always work together. In this text, we see:

  • Fight →\rightarrow Cancer (To stop a sickness)
  • Start →\rightarrow Tests (To begin a check)
  • Spread →\rightarrow Body (To move to different places)

📏 Comparing Things

"These mice lived longer than others."

To compare two things, we often add -er to the word and use than.

  • Long →\rightarrow Longer than
  • Fast →\rightarrow Faster than
  • Small →\rightarrow Smaller than

Vocabulary Learning

vaccine (n.)
A medicine that helps your body fight a specific disease.
Example:The baby needs a vaccine to stay healthy.
virus (n.)
A very small thing that can make people or animals sick.
Example:The flu is caused by a virus.
attack (v.)
To try to hurt or destroy something.
Example:The body's immune system will attack the bad cells.
method (n.)
A way of doing something.
Example:This is a new method for learning English.
tumor (n.)
A mass of extra cells that grows in the body.
Example:The doctor checked the tumor with a scan.
spreads (v.)
To move to a larger area or more parts.
Example:The fire spreads quickly in the dry forest.
Practice A2 words in a crossword→