A study published last month in Nature underscores the potential for a new personalized pancreatic cancer vaccine to keep the disease from coming back.

The trial was tiny, just 16 patients, but it’s eliciting a sentiment not normally associated with this brutal disease: hope.

Pancreatic cancer is notorious for the swiftness with which is kills. So, when researchers offer data suggesting a personalized vaccine might be able to keep the cancer at bay for years, it’s worth paying attention to — even when the results are in just a handful of people.