BATON ROUGE — Personalized vaccines may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but they are a reality.

Mayo Clinic researchers are developing personalized lung cancer vaccines.

"We actually make a vaccine that's specific for each individual's cancers,” cancer vaccine researcher Keith Knutson said.

The process involves analyzing cancer cells to create a one-of-a-kind vaccine.

"We can actually take a small part of that cancer and actually sequence that cancer and get the information that we need to design the vaccine,” Knutson said.

The vaccine uses the immune system to identify and combat cancer.

"We can use that vaccine to hopefully prevent the disease from coming back, or we can use it to help shrink a tumor when given with other types of therapies,” Knutson said.

You can reduce your risk of lung cancer by quitting smoking and avoiding exposure to secondhand smoke.