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RandomFactor [soylentnews.org] writes:

EurekAlert reports on a potential "Early Breakthrough With Cancer Vaccine" [eurekalert.org]

Scientists are ready to trial a new cancer vaccine in humans following the successful outcome of their preclinical studies.

The new vaccine was developed by a Mater Research team based at The Translational Research Institute in collaboration with The University of Queensland.

Lead Researcher Associate Professor Kristen Radford says the vaccine has the potential to treat a variety of blood cancers and malignancies and is a major breakthrough for cancer vaccinations.

"We are hoping this vaccine could be used to treat blood cancers, such as myeloid leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and paediatric leukaemias, plus solid malignancies including breast, lung, renal, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, and glioblastoma," she said.

"Our new vaccine is comprised of human antibodies fused with tumour-specific protein, and we are investigating its capacity to target human cells while activating the memory of the tumour cells."

According to Radford, the vaccine has significant advantages over the current entries in this space.

"First, it can be produced as an ‘off the shelf’ clinical grade formulation, which circumvents the financial and logistical issues associated with patient-specific vaccines,” she said.

“Secondly, this prototype vaccine targets the key tumour cells required for the initiation of tumour-specific immune responses, thereby maximising potential effectiveness of treatment, while minimising potential side effects."

Passing clinical trials not a small hurdle however. An MIT study shows [centerwatch.com] that 3.4% of investigational cancer treatments eventually receive FDA approval, although that has increased significantly in the past five years.

Journal Reference:
Frances E Pearson, Kirsteen M Tullett, Ingrid M Leal‐Rojas, et al. Human CLEC9A antibodiesdeliver Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) antigen to CD141+ dendritic cells to activate naïve and memory WT1‐specific CD8+ T cells [open], Clinical & Translational Immunology (DOI: 10.1002/cti2.1141 [doi.org])

Original Submission