article_snippet: Hillburn, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, was one of 12 cancer patients who were given a tetanus shot as part of a new study conducted at the Duke University Medical Center.
article_snippet: Researchers found that a dose of tetanus vaccine let patients like Hillburn live longer when added to an experimental treatment for the most common and deadly kind of brain tumor, .
article_snippet: Thanks to an experimental treatment involving the tetanus-diphtheria vaccine, Hillburn (top center) got to witness the birth of five more grandchildren .
article_snippet: Thanks to an experimental treatment involving the tetanus-diphtheria vaccine, Hillburn (top center) 'put the immune system on high alert,' paving the way for the experimental treatment to work better in attacking the disease, said researcher Kristen Batich of the Duke University Medical Center.
article_snippet: Cutting age treatment: Sandra Hillburn was one of 12 cancer patients who were given a tetanus shot as part of a new study conducted at the Duke University Medical Center .
article_snippet: The new research work that has so dramatically prolonged Sandra Hillburn life is an example of a long-standing effort to harness the immune system to fight cancer, an approach called immunotherapy.
article_snippet: The specific strategy immunotherapy used is called a dendritic-cell vaccine.