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Posted on Thursday, Dec 22, 2011

Vaccine May Kill Mesothelioma Cells

Currently, the only way to prevent mesothelioma is by avoiding exposure to asbestos.  For the millions of Americans that have already been exposed to the toxic mineral, however, the potential for developing mesothelioma is a lifelong danger.  But, if researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Georgia achieve success in their latest project, a new vaccine may offer an effective treatment for mesothelioma. 

The vaccine, which has shown dramatic results at reducing tumors in mice in laboratory experiments, helps a cancer patient’s immune system identify cancer cells and kill them, according to a recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Treatments such as this vaccine that employ the body’s own defenses are known as immunotherapy. 

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that is only known to occur as a result of exposure to asbestos.  As a result, the disease which can form in the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart, is entirely preventable – however, it is also incurable.  Mesothelioma is one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of cancer, with limited treatment options.   While chemotherapy and radiation are most often used to relieve symptoms, the cancer often metastasizes leaving the patients with a very short survival time. 

The vaccine, which acts as a treatment as opposed to a preventive measure, works by identifying a special protein that is a signature of certain cancer cells. When malignant tumors occur, they produce the protein MUC1 at high levels, promoting the growth of tumors. Mesothelioma is among the types of cancer in which MUC1 is overexpressed, as shown in other studies. 

“This is the first time that a vaccine has been developed that trains the immune system to distinguish and kill cancer cells based on their different sugar structures on proteins such as MUC1,” Sandra Gendler, a cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and co-author of the study said in a press release. 

Effective treatments are desperately needed to help victims of mesothelioma. The prognosis for most mesothelioma patients is grim, with survival often less than a year after diagnosis, and underscores the fact that the current treatments are not sufficient. 

The researchers are currently testing the vaccine’s effectiveness against cultured human cancer cells in the laboratory to assess toxicity.  Phase I clinical trials involving cancer patients to assess the safety of the vaccine could begin in 2013.