A cancer vaccine being offered for the first time in Hawaii could prolong the life of terminal prostate cancer patients.

The Blood Bank of Hawaii this month will begin collecting disease-fighting white blood cells from the patients. The cells will be sent to a mainland drug facility to be exposed to cancer proteins before being reintroduced to patients to help their immune system attack cancer cells.

The process, known as cellular immunotherapy, stimulates the body’s immune cells to fight the disease and can extend a patient’s life by four months to several years, said Dr. David Tamura, an oncologist whose patients will be among the first to receive treatment locally.

"This treatment is not a miracle cure," he said. "This allows patients to live significantly longer. It’s a very different paradigm for the treatment of cancer itself."

Two or three of Tamura’s patients who have metastatic prostate cancer — cancer that has spread beyond the gland — are scheduled to be treated in the next few weeks.

The procedure, which is done three times over a five-week period, costs about $80,000. Insurance coverage varies by carrier.

The treatment is approved by Medicaid and Medicare, which also pays a portion of the costs.

"Immunotherapy is being tested for a whole range of cancers," Tamura said, adding that 15 to 20 local patients over the last few years have had to fly to the mainland for the procedure approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2010.

"It’ll definitely improve a patient’s quality of life and can delay complications from the cancer and buy more time," he said. "It’s going to allow these patients to stay at home and be with their family."

The treatment is often used in lieu of chemotherapy or might delay chemotherapy, which is a more toxic alternative that can have debilitating side effects, he said.

Researchers are testing the therapy on other types of diseases, including skin, gastrointestinal and breast cancers.

"I suspect as time goes by and research continues, you’ll probably find it is used to treat more things and more cancers (and other nonmalignant diseases)," said Randal Covin, associate medical director for the Blood Bank of Hawaii.