Cancer Vaccine Showing Promise In Ovarian Trials

Main Category: Ovarian Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 17 Jan 2008 - 16:00 PST

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This time of year, a lot of us get flu shots to help our bodies fight off any signs of the flu. What if you could do the same for cancer? Doctors are already testing the idea in women who have ovarian cancer, and early results are promising.

After being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Christine Sable made good on a promise to travel, taking in destinations like Europe and the tropics - but nowhere as often as Buffalo, New York. It's there, at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, that Christine is taking part in an innovative trial to see if a simple vaccine can keep her cancer at bay.

"This was something that I could personally do to feel useful and to help move medicine forward. Because whether it works for me or not, someone would learn something from it," says Sable.

What doctors are learning is this vaccine may be a remarkably effective approach. In a phase one trial, doctors gave the vaccine to women who'd been treated for advanced ovarian cancer. Of the 22 women who received the shot, 18 showed a positive immune response.

"It's almost like getting a flu shot. When you get a flu vaccine, you are training your body's immune system to recognize and kill the flu virus if you get infected," says Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

In this case, the immune system is being trained to detect and kill cancer cells. Dr. Odunsi helped developed the vaccine. He says it appears to work in women because the vaccine is actually made from a protein found only in men. The protein is similar to those in cancer cells, so whenever a woman's immune system detects it, it kills it. By doing so, it may reduce the risk of recurrence.

"That is going after that small number of leftover cells that we all know, if you just leave them to their own devices, they're going to grow back," says Kelvin Lee, MD, at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

There was an 80% chance that Christine's cancer cells would grow back. Nearly 5 years after her diagnosis, they haven't. That means Christine can continue seeing the world, with occasional stops in Buffalo - a city's she's grown fond of.

Doctors are now going through the second phase of the trial - testing an even more powerful form of the vaccine. If they continue to see success, researchers say the vaccine may be on the market in the next five years. Right now, they are only testing it on ovarian cancer, but scientists say it may also show promise in other forms - like prostate, breast and colon cancers as well.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute