- Scientists said today they are on the brink of a major
cancer breakthrough with a revolutionary vaccine.
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- The new technique has produced dramatic results against
one of the most vicious cancers, that of the pancreas, which has a 95 per
cent mortality rate.
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- The findings, which raise hope that a cure is within
reach, are being unveiled at a major international conference in Copenhagen.
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- An American team was revealing a new treatment-based
on the bodyâ*s ability to fight disease. Patients were given powerful
injections of material taken from their own cells, designed to assist their
immune systems, recognise and attack the disease.
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- The vaccines are designed for patients who already have
cancer and help their bodies over-whelm the tumours. They are tailor-made
to each individual, using so-called heat-shock proteins produced by the
body to help cells rebuild themselves after potentially lethal attacks.
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- Today the US team said that almost a third of the patients
lived twice as long as expected â* for at least two years. One patient
was alive and disease-free after five years.
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- Typical life expectancy after surgery for pancreatic
cancer is just over one year.
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- Oncologist Dr Robert Maki, from New York, said:
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- * Tests on the patients showed that at least some people
we examined made a response against the vaccine, and therefore, hopefully,
against the cancer.
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- * Over 95 per cent of people with pancreatic cancer die,
typically within two years of diagnosis, and mortality is still about 90
per cent even for those who have complete removal of their pancreatic cancer.
So the finding of even a few patients surviving two years or more is promising.
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- Scientists have been working on the vaccines since the
Nineties. Although some human trials have taken place, so far much of the
research has been laboratorybased.
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- Today the US-led team revealed that work on the vaccines
had entered a new phase with patients now seeing the benefit of years of
laboratory research.
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- If successful, the vaccines could eliminate the need
for conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
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- At the European Cancer Conference in Copenhagen, the
US team was revealing that the technique could also be used to develop
effective vaccines against infectious diseases.
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- Dr Maki said: "It is gratifying to see the studies
move from bench to patients. This same technique could also be used in
preparing vaccines against infectious disease - another very large area
of potential use."
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- Last month it emerged that the treatment had also produced
'very promising' results against colon cancer.
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- Trials on patients with advanced kidney cancer also showed
exciting results with half of the patients still alive two years after
their vaccines.
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- Normally, only 15 per cent would have been expected to
survive.
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- In trials for skin cancer, 95 per cent of the patients
were still alive 14 months after treatment, when the expected survival
rate would normally be between 40 and 50 per cent.
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- Vaccines based on heatshock proteins taken from the patients'
own tumours send their immune systems into 'overdrive', killing the cancer.
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- However, scientists stress that the treatment is still
at an early stage. They will only know how effective it is when much larger
trials have been carried out.
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- Trials so far have typically involved fewer than 20 carefully
selected patients.
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- Although similar techniques have been used against skin
cancers, experts said these were relatively easy to treat, unlike pancreatic
cancer which until now has almost always killed the sufferer.
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- http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/6819202?version=1
- ©2003 Associated New Media
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