Against colorectal cancer
The first tests
The colon cancer vaccine has passed the first clinical trials in humans. A group of researchers from Thomas Jefferson University claims that the treatment is safe and activates immune cells to fight the tumor, according to the university's website.
The results are described in detail in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (Snook et al., Split tolerance permits safe Ad5-GUCY2C-PADRE vaccine-induced T-cell responses in colon cancer patients). Tumor antigens are molecules that the immune system can distinguish from normal ones. In colorectal cancer, one such molecule, called GUCY2C, has been identified by scientists. To create the vaccine, the team combined the GUCY2C molecule with the PADRE molecule, which enhances the immune response. It turned out to be a drug that acts only on colorectal cancer cells.
How the GUCY2C antigen works and how it turned out to be a vaccine (figure from the article by Snook et al.).
The first phase involved 10 patients with the first and second stages of the disease. Each received one dose of the drug, after which the team analyzed blood counts after a month, 90 and 180 days. Studies of blood samples demonstrated the activation of immune cells, which are responsible for the destruction of malignant. Patients did not report serious side effects, although they experienced some discomfort at the injection site.
"It is urgently necessary to understand what stimulates the growth of colorectal cancer, and use this knowledge to develop new treatments. This major study provides some of the first evidence that it may be possible to safely direct a patient's own immune system to find and destroy this type of cancer," says Karen Knudsen, director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson University.
Now the team is preparing the second phase of research on a larger sample of patients. The recruitment of participants will be held in the fall of 2019.
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