Cancer Vaccine That Successfully Cures 97% Of Tumours In Mice Is About To Start Human Trials

By Sughra Hafeez in Health and Fitness On 29th March 2018
advertisement

Remarkable results

Stanford University School of Medicine researchers found a new cancer vaccine that activates T cells in tumors and successfully cured 97% cancer in mice.

No chemotherapy is required

The vaccine will now be available to patients with low-grade lymphoma in a year if approved. The vaccine contains two drugs which have few side effects including soreness and potential fever, patients who will receive the vaccine will not require any chemotherapy.

advertisement
Follow On Google News

According to the news release:

"The current clinical trial is expected to recruit about 15 patients with low-grade lymphoma. If successful, Levy believes the treatment could be useful for many tumor types. He envisions a future in which clinicians inject the two agents into solid tumors in humans prior to surgical removal of cancer as a way to prevent recurrence due to unidentified metastases or lingering cancer cells, or even to head off the development of future tumors that arise due to genetic mutations like BRCA1 and 2."

advertisement

Dr. Ronald Levy, senior author of the study told the Stanford Medicine News Center:

"Our approach uses a one-time application of very small amounts of two agents to stimulate the immune cells only within the tumor itself. In the mice, we saw amazing, bodywide effects, including the elimination of tumors all over the animal."

Follow On Twitter

He added:

"When we use these two agents together, we see the elimination of tumors all over the body. This approach bypasses the need to identify tumor-specific immune targets and doesn't require wholesale activation of the immune system or customization of a patient's immune cells."

Cured multiple types of cancer

The vaccine cures multiple types of cancer in mice that had breast, colon and melanoma tumors and prevents the disease from occurring. It is currently unclear when the two injections will be available.

advertisement

Dr. Erik Marklund, the Study author from Uppsala University, said:

"The study helps to explain why some drugs bind differently to isolated proteins and proteins that are inside cells.

By studying the native structures and mechanisms for cancer targets, it may become possible to exploit their most distinct features to design new, more selective therapeutics."

According to Stanford Medicine:

"One of the used agents is already approved for use in humans and the other agent has been tested in several unrelated clinical trials."

The findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Dr. Michelle Hermiston, Cancer specialist from the University of California, San Fransisco, said:

"If it's your kid, it makes a huge difference. It's not a trivial therapy."

"Can we make the tumor more visible to the immune system? We are at the tip of the iceberg right now."

advertisement

Cancer cases in 2018

In 2018, there will be an estimated 1,735,350 new cancer cases diagnosed and 609,640 cancer deaths in the United States. The new vaccine could save thousands of lives.