Immunotherapy Cures Prostate Cancer in Mice

A good demonstrations of the promise of immune therapies, training the immune system to destroy very specific types of cell: researchers "cured well-established prostate tumors in mice using a human vaccine with no apparent side effects. This novel cancer treatment approach encourages the immune system to rid itself of prostate tumors without assistance from toxic chemotherapies and radiation treatments. Such a treatment model could some day help people to live tumor free with fewer side effects than those experienced from current therapies. ... We are hopeful that this will overcome some of the major hurdles which we have seen with immunotherapy cancer research ... Among the team's findings: no trace of autoimmune diseases in the mice. The murine T-cells attacked only cancerous prostate cells, leaving the healthy tissue unharmed. To develop this new approach, geneticists assembled snippets of genetic code from healthy human prostate tissue into a complementary DNA (cDNA) library. These bits of cDNA were then inserted into a swarm of vesicular stomatitis viruses (VSV), which were cultured and reintroduced into the test mice as a vaccine during a series of intravenous injections. Development of comprehensive cDNA libraries from healthy human prostate tissue represents the key to successful immunotherapy. All infections, allergens and tissues, including tumors, have a unique fingerprint called an antigen - a molecular protein tag that triggers a response from the body's immune system. [Researchers] deployed the human vaccine prostate cancer antigens through the mutated VSV vector to raise a full-on assault from the mice's T-cells. After exposure to the mutated viruses, the animals' immune systems recognized the antigens expressed in the virus and produced a potent immune response to attack the prostate tumors."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-06/mc-mcr061411.php

Comments

Best news I've heard all day!

Posted by: Will Nelson at June 20th, 2011 9:19 AM

Why can't people who have prostate and other forms of cancer choose to try this treatment, instead of having to wait for the FDA to decide that they can do so? Thinking about how many deaths could have been prevented (and will not be prevented in the near future) by the use of this and other treatments with such strong potential, I don't understand how this is not a major scandal.

Posted by: Breakout Bras at June 21st, 2011 5:27 PM

Prostate cancer affects men over the age of 40. It is usually considered an older persons disease. Yeast and people have the NDT80 gene in common. Activating the gene in yeast reverses the aging process in them. Why not try to reverse prostate cancer and other aging illness by growing the affected cells in a technology that allows them to grow and then activating the NDT 80 genes to turn them on. It may be the first step to prove that the illnesses could be cured by activating the gene.

Posted by: Alvin Steinberg at September 11th, 2011 1:53 PM
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