Vaccine AIDS Colon Cancer Patients

A vaccine developed in the U.K. stimulated the production of killer T cells in up to 70 of colorectal cancer patients.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham cloned an antibody called 105AD7 from a patient with colorectal cancer who survived seven years with liver metastases.

The study involved 67 patients, average age 66, with colorectal cancer of varying severity. They were randomized to receive 100 mcg of 105AD7, 105AD7 with BCG (a bacteria used to stimulate the immune system in cancer patients) during the first immunization followed by 105AD7 alone, or no treatment.

Around 70 percent of patients responded to the vaccine, which increased the production of an immune system protein called TNF-alpha. TNF-alpha stimulated the production of killer T cells, which produced cancer-destroying immune proteins called cytokines. Survival rates were not studied.

The study appears in the November 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.