Prostate Cancer
Researchers in Cork, Ireland, have developed a vaccine that enables a person’s immune system to attack cancer cells directly, The Irish Times reported Feb. 5.
The scientists are in discussions with clinicians to bring the vaccine to human trials.
The vaccine is for use against prostate cancer and was developed at the Cork Cancer Research Center at University College Cork. The vaccine is based on using DNA to stimulate the immune system and make it attack any cancer cells left after conventional surgical treatments.
The team has developed the vaccine, set up doses for it and established how it could form part of a treatment regime, according to Dr. Mark Tangney, principal investigator of the research, which was conducted with UCC colleague Dr. Safraz Ahmad.
“We have also shown that immune activation with DNA vaccines is safe,” Tangney said.
The team published details of their research Feb. 5 in the journal Genetic Vaccines and Therapy.
Tangney and Ahmad, who recently received an award from the IJMS Doctors Awards for his research in this area, carried out the research.
Incidence and death rates for prostate cancer are higher in Ireland than the United Kingdom with 1,900 new cases and 700 deaths each year. The vaccine is meant to complement existing treatments, which involve surgical removal of a tumor and then radiotherapy. The vaccine seeks out and destroys any remaining cancerous cells that may have migrated away to other parts of the body.
Including DNA in vaccines enables the immune system to get a fix on the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.
