Is a Potential Cancer Vaccination on the Horizon?

Could a vaccine from a healthy person to treat cancer in another be far away? Researchers have done something very similar just a short time ago. They detailed their findings in a recent press release.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) announced that they have successfully transferred cells from a healthy person who did not have cancer to a different patient who was suffering from multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma is cancer in the bone marrow.

The UAMS Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy performed a unique procedure. First of all, they injected a healthy person with a special type of protein immunization that has shown the potential to kill cancer cells. This protein can 'kick start' our body's ability to make cells that can kill the cancer cells.

Then they took some of the special cancer-killing antibodies from the healthy person and transferred them to a patient suffering from multiple myeloma. The patient was also treated with chemotherapy.

Following this, the researchers followed the patient who had multiple myeloma and discovered that the transfer caused the cancer cells to be killed. The patient who was suffering from multiple myeloma went into remission from their cancer three years ago, and is still in remission today.

The patient who was initially diagnosed with multiple myeloma had the same immune response as her healthy twin. This study was based upon a set of twins - one of whom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and one who was not.

"Vaccination therapies have not yet been proven clinically effective for myeloma, possibly due to disruptions in the patient's immune system caused by chemotherapy or the disease itself. The ability to define and transfer an immune reaction from a healthy donor to a patient with multiple myeloma may give us another tool with long-lasting protection against disease recurrence," said Frits van Rhee, M.D., Ph.D., who is the director of clinical research at the Myeloma Institute and was the primary leader of the research team for this study.

The particular vaccine that was used tested the antigen called MAGE-A3. This antigen is part of a "cancer-testis" antigen, that is, it is a protein that can produce cancerous cells but will destroy malignant tissues when they exist.

Researchers hope to pursue clinical trials that would involve using more multiple myeloma patients to see if these successful results can be duplicated. The vaccine that was used, MAGE-A3, is produced by Glaxo-Smith-Kline.

The Myeloma Institute is a part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. More blood stem cell transplants have been performed here than by any other medical facility in the world.

This study has been profiled in the Journal of Immunotherapy.

Source:
http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/535613/