Reported
December 25, 2002
Prostate Cancer Vaccine
DURHAM, N.C. (Ivanhoe Newswire) --
Men experiencing prostate cancer must also endure the side
effects of treatment. These can often cause more mental anguish
than the disease itself. But now a new treatment could stop
prostate cancer without the side effects.
Bob Anderson is one of those prostate cancer patients that
has to battle the side effects of treatments like chemotherapy.
"In addition to killing the cancer cells, it also kills your red
blood cells and your white blood cells," Anderson tells Ivanhoe.
And often chemotherapy kills energy. Anderson used to play
tennis, ski and hike. He says, "All of those things were
impacted to the point where I just am not able to participate in
them anymore."
Now a new vaccine could eliminate those draining side effects
Anderson experienced. To create the new vaccine, researchers
from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., removed
immune cells from cancer patients. Then they sensitized them to
the cancer and re-injected them into the patients' bloodstream.
There, the immune cells activated other immune cells to attack.
Duke
researcher Johannes Vieweg, M.D. tells Ivanhoe, "The miracle is
that these cells only attack cancer cells, but not normal cells,
so I think we have a very specific and targeted therapy which
has no side effects whatsoever."
He says the vaccine may not eliminate prostate cancer
altogether, but may keep it from spreading.
"In the next decade I think we will find improvements to
these strategies and completely tackle the cancer puzzle and
hopefully can cure patients in the future," says Dr. Vieweg.
Just the prospect for an easier treatment is enough for
Anderson. He says, "Even if it only lasted for a short period of
time and didn't actually cure the cancer, but allowed my body to
recover, would allow me to maintain a reasonable lifestyle."
Though Duke researchers have found the vaccine to be safe,
more testing is needed to determine just how effective it is in
fighting prostate and other forms of cancer.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Amy Austell
Duke University Medical Center News Office
382 Hanes House
DUMC 3354
Durham, NC 27710
(919) 684-4148
amy.austell@duke.edu
