A vaccine has been developed to help prevent the recurrence of prostate cancer (cells pictured) A vaccine has been developed to help prevent the recurrence of prostate cancer, and potentially other cancers. It's designed to teach the immune system to recognise compounds found in prostate cancer cells and is being given to men who have already been treated for the cancer. The vaccine is made from pieces of a protein called TARP that's found in about 95 per cent of prostate cancers. Animal studies have shown that the protein can effectively stimulate the immune system to attack the cancer. The thinking is that the vaccine will prime the immune system so that it creates antibodies when it detects TARP-related cancers. Then, should the cancer reappear, the antibodies will be dispatched to attack the malignant cells. Those antibodies, along with other immune cells, can then destroy cancer cells without harming non-cancer cells, so minimising side-effects. It is initially being tested as a way to treat cancer that has returned but, if successful, could be used as a first line treatment for prostate and potentially breast cancer in the future. TARP is also found in about 50 per cent of breast cancers. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with more than 40,000 new cases diagnosed every year. In many cases the cancer develops slowly and patients may simply be monitored rather than actively treated. But in cases where the cancer is more aggressive, even after treatment there is a high risk of recurrence. Researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute are using the vaccine on 70 men who have been treated for the cancer, but whose PSA is rising again (posed by model) Once they have been treated, men are monitored with regular blood tests that check for a protein called prostate specific antigen or PSA, which can indicate cancer. The time it takes for the PSA reading to double is called the PSADT. Men with a PSADT of less than three months are at high risk of dying from prostate cancer. Around 11,000 men in the UK die from the disease a year. Researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute are using the vaccine on 70 men who have been treated for the cancer, but whose PSA is rising again. Men on the trial will have a PSADT greater than three months and less than 15. The trial will last nearly two years, and men will be given six injections of the vaccine or a placebo during that time. The number of men in Britain with, or who have had, prostate cancer . Professor Raj Persad, urology consultant at the Bristol Urological Institute, says that the idea of boosting the body's own immune defences is an 'excellent strategy' for preventing a recurrence of the disease. 'Toxicity studies will have to be done, and then clinical effectiveness studies are needed, and it will need to be compared to existing treatments,' he says. 'But despite these time constraints, the research looks very promising indeed and we must watch this space.' Meanwhile, the MMR vaccine may be a new way to tackle problem warts. Researchers have found that injecting the vaccine into warts that have resisted other treatments leads to six out of ten disappearing. Warts are caused by infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV). Although they can clear up without treatment within one to two years, about a third or more do not resolve and may multiply and enlarge, making treatment more difficult. In the new study, researchers used the jab on 65 patients who'd had warts for between two and 15 years. They had an average of three treatments. In 63 per cent of cases, the warts disappeared, while 6 per cent showed no response. The remainder had some improvement. Side-effects included pain during injection, itching and flu-like symptoms. The warts recurred in only two patients, according to the researchers from Zagazig University, Egypt, whose findings are published in the International Journal of Dermatology. The theory is that the vaccine stimulates the immune system, which then spots and attacks the HPV virus and the warts it had previously overlooked.
Vaccine is made from pieces of a protein called TARP.
TARP is found in about 95 per cent of prostate cancers.
Studies show the protein can teach the immune system to attack cancer.