A shot to be felt ’round the world?

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We know the four letter curses, the 10 letter curses.  But, we dread the 6 letter one… C  A   N  C  E  R……  But, maybe not for much longer.

It turns out that an Israeli company, Vaxil Biotherapeutics (Tel Aviv), may have that proverbial soap to cleanse our body of the scourge once and for all.  A cancer vaccine.  One that recognizes a molecule, MUC1, that seems to be present in 90% of all the cancers.  And, if we can alert out immune system to this molecule, have it produce antibodies to attack it, then the cancers may be unable to take hold.

Our immune system normally seeks out foreign cells for attack. But, cancerous cells are not identified as foreign, since they are our own cells- just malfunctioning ones.  As such, the immune system passes them by.

Some initial tests of ImMucin (Vaxil developed this in concert with Tel Aviv University) at the Hadassah Medical Center (Jerusalem) indicate this to be true.  Note- these are preliminary safety tests, not efficacy tests, so let’s not overreact yet.  The 10 patients, with multiple myeloma (blood cancer) all received the vaccine.   After the vaccine, they all were found to have greater immunity against cancers.   Three (3) of the 10 were considered to be cancer-free after receiving the vaccine.

The vaccine was discussed about a year ago in Vaccine.  Drs. Lior Carmon and Riva Kovjazin, with colleagues at Tel Aviv University (Drs. Volovitz, Kundel, Rosenbaum, Medali, Horn, Smorodinsky, and Brenner) described the vaccine.  It is a 21 unit peptide that completely encodes the MUC1 molecule, which is the tumor-associated antigen present in about 90% of the solid and non-solid cancers.  The fact that this peptide is relatively small makes it a better vaccine candidate.  This peptide elicits responses from CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, important constituents in our immune system.  The CD4+ T cells initiate the immune response, while the CD8+ cells effect lysing (breaking down the attacked component).

Note that this is not a conventional vaccine.  Those are normally provided people to help them develop immunity in the future.  This, a therapeutic vaccine, treats the sick, harnessing our immune systems to identify and attack cancer cells in a specific chain of events.  It also means that the time frame necessary to develop immunity for conventional vaccines does not apply in this case.

So, given the best of all possible worlds, this vaccine is probably five to six years away from use.

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30 thoughts on “A shot to be felt ’round the world?”

  1. How exciting! This is the best news I’ve heard re: cancer in a very long time! Even if it’s a decade away–it’s something to look forward to. As always, Roy, your post is informative & thought provoking. Thanks for sharing!

  2. Oh, my, gooodnessss! This is bloody amazing, Roy! I know it’s a bit of time off from becoming a standard therapy, but I am about to pop the cork on some champagne (if it weren’t so early lol) What a WONDERFUL hope on the horizon! Needless to say I’m sharing this all over the place. See you always have the coolest articles! Thank you so much for this one. I’d love to change my advocacy work to another disease when cancer becomes a thing of the past! Cheers my friend!
    Lisa Brandel recently posted..Look To The Light by Lisa Brandel

    1. I doubt cancer will ever be obsolete, Janette. This is not like smallpox where we can keep the agent from multiplying in the environment (by not infecting others) and eventually disappear (forced extinction). Cancer is a mutation of our cells in an untoward way- and since mutations always occur…

  3. I’ve seen mentions of these recent breakthroughs so the opportunity to read about it in depth is great. I do believe in the intelligence and tenacity of scientists and researchers to eventually find a cure. We must continue to support those who are investing the bulk of donated dollars into research (not admin heavy organizations) wisely. We are all part of the cure!
    Tambre Leighn/coaching by tambre recently posted..The “S” Word

    1. Well, that is the problem, Tambre. We don’t give our donations to individual scientists and engineers, but to some agency. Which uses people to evaluate and monitor to whom they will proffer money. Depending upon how lean that organization is will determine how much money is targeted as desired. Of course, the research institution may also have “overhead” charges, which further dilute the net recipients’ support.

  4. That’s great news, Roy! I have never Heard of therapeutic vaccine before (It’s always good to learn something new). Are there any side effects or therapeutic risks like there are in chemotherapy?
    Gustavo recently posted..Hippocampus’ function.

    1. Gustavo…
      That’s what’s different with a therapeutic vaccine. As opposed to trying to develop immunity to a class of antigens to which the body may be subjected in the future, these are aimed at having the body recognize that hidden killer among its already held cells. The “Trick” is to find a marker that is ONLY present on the cells we wish to eradicate. If that barrier is crossed, then the therapeutic vaccine will be a roaring success (assuming the immunity is developed). It the marker is present on more than the target cell, the vaccine can be the death knell…

  5. It’s so great to hear some possible good news about fighting cancer! Great information, Roy – and so hopeful! I hope they can come up with a vaccine for Lyme Disease someday soon. I am hearing more and more about that nasty disease, especially where I live. I’ve often wondered why they have a vaccine for dogs and not for humans? Great post!
    Suerae Stein recently posted..I’ve got a Hunch!

    1. Oh, there are different folks working on that disease. And, it’s not just in the Northeast, Suerae. My son developed Bell’s Palsy as a result- but we (and, especially, he) are lucky we saw it as it developed and responded (medically) virulently and immediately. He was able to take a planned cruise five days after developing his first symptoms. (One of the problems with Lyme diseases is one does not recognize the symptoms immediately after the bite…)

  6. Recently one my friend just beat cancer and I saw him go through the whole procedure and it was painful, not only physically but also mentally. The whole battle was huge and this just comes as a good news. No matter how many years, a ray of hope shines through!
    Hajra recently posted..It wasn’t all that great…

    1. Oh, the Chemotherapy route, Hajra, is one tough road. After all, chemotherapy is not quite as specific as attacking one maker on one type of cell. Which is why there are myriads of side-effects.

    1. The FDA process is not as long as one thinks- it’s the testing to get there. As long as the testing does not yield untoward results, this should be a pretty straight-forward process, PeggyLee.

  7. Thank you for this post Dr. A!
    I have a very dear friend with Multiple Myeloma who is currently in Chemo, but showing positive signs toward remissive levels. This (even though it may be 6 years away) is a great thing! A 30% chance is far greater that she has been offered to date. She has had 3 bone marrow transplants, and been on chemo for three years in various regimens.
    This is an aside, but are there counter actions to the vaccine that are known yet. I sk because my friend also has serious Asthma issues as well.
    At any rate, thank you for the news as always.
    Be well,
    Ron

    1. Ron, the “marker” seems specific to the cancerous growths. As long as that is true, then the body will only develop antibodies to the marker (as a result of this vaccine) and should only attack cells that contain the marker.

    1. No, this is not controversial, Roberta. The blurb was referring to Monday’s post discussing a controversial article, today’s was more informational.
      Now, if only we could compress the time frame for testing so this could be offered sooner than later.

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