University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have begun testing a groundbreaking vaccine that may help prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for the disease.
While vaccines like Gardasil, which protects against the virus associated with cervical cancer, are currently in use, this marks the first vaccine that targets a specific protein and harnesses the body’s own defenses as a means of cancer prevention, explains Dr. Robert Schoen, professor of medicine and epidemiology.
“This is unique in that we’re using a vaccine as a preventive measure in people who don’t have cancer,” Schoen says. “It will not replace colonscopy, but it could reduce the frequency and maybe diminish rates of cancer.”
Late-stage colon and pancreatic cancer patients who received the experimental vaccine were able to generate an immune response despite their cancer-weakened immune system, says co-investigator Dr. Olivera Finn, professor and chair of the
Dept.of Immunology at Pitt.
If the experimental vaccine proves successful, more clinical trials will follow and the vaccine will be made available in seven to 10 years. As a result, patients may be spared the inconvenience of procedures such as colonoscopy, which are now used to identify and remove precancerous polyps.
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer in the U.S. Pitt’s research is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the Nathan S. Arenson Fund for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
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Writer:
Debra Diamond SmitSource: Dr. Robert Schoen, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Images courtesy UPMC