The Prostate Cancer Charity comments on new research published
in the journal, Nature Medicine, which suggests that a new vaccine
could cure prostate tumours in mice, with no apparent side
effects.
Dr Kate Holmes, Research Manager at The Prostate Cancer Charity,
explains: "Treating cancer by provoking a response from the body's
immune system has been a strong focus for research for many years
and this new study, which uses multiple pieces of prostate DNA, has
yielded some promising results.
"The danger of using this type of therapy is that it can produce
an excessive immune response - meaning that the injected virus
attacks healthy cells as well as the prostate cancer.
Significantly, the vaccine developed in this study has shown to not
cause any damage to normal, healthy cells in mice whilst helping to
kill the prostate tumour.
"This study provides new hope for the potential of these new
anti-cancer therapies. Although we are hopeful that the results of
this study could help to form the basis of a new cancer vaccine in
future, it is important to remember that the researchers have only
investigated the potential of their vaccine in mice. Further
research looking at its effect in men is needed before we can be
sure of the usefulness of this vaccine. We look forward to the
outcome," she added.