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(EMAILWIRE.COM, July 11, 2011 ) UNITED KINGDOM -- According to researchers at Liverpool University, a new vaccine, called the "TeloVac jab," uses the body's own immune system to target cancer cells. Currently, researchers in Great Britain are testing the effectiveness of the vaccine in pancreatic cancer patients. If successful, those who suffer from malignant mesothelioma could have a promising new mesothelioma treatment option in a few years, thus patients' lives may be extended.
Malignant mesothelioma is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, and it has limited treatment options. While radiation radiation and chemotherapy can help relieve patients' symptoms and progression, the cancer often metastasizes, leaving patients with a poor prognosis. Those who are diagnosed with stage III or greater are usually only given about six months to a year to live.
Mesothelioma is rarely diagnosed in the early stages of the disease, which limits the treatment options available. Many patients are diagnosed in the later stages, when treatment is less effective. Unfortunately, many who are diagnosed with mesothelioma do not show or experience symptoms of the disease for up to thirty years after the initial exposure to asbestos, the main cause of contracting the cancer. When asbestos fibers are inhaled, ingested, or tampered with, the fibers become lodged in the lining of the heart, lung and abdomen, causing inflammation which, in turn, causes mesothelioma.
More than 1,000 men and women who are in the advanced stages of pancreatic cancer are participating in the study. While the results are not available yet, many in the study are claiming that the drug has added years their lives. Earlier trials showed the vaccine adding an average of three months to late-stage pancreatic cancer patients.
The vaccine works by forcing the body's immune system to kill an enzyme called telomerase, the enzyme present in cancer cells that allows cells to grow uncontrollably. Professor Neoptolemos, coordinator of the clinical trial and professor of Liverpool University, said that the result is very promising.
The researchers hope that the vaccine will be effective against other types of cancer including lung, liver, and skin cancers. Their hope is that the vaccine will result in a truly universal vaccine that can be used for all types of cancer.
Several clinical trials, including one from the Memorial-Sloan Cancer center, have been conducted in hopes of finding a vaccine for those who have been exposed to asbestos. None have been released to market. However, these studies, including the Liverpool study, are giving mesothelioma doctors and patients hope.
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