Human Vaccine Cures Prostate Cancer in Mice

Monday, June 20, 2011 - 09:30 in Health & Medicine

It's a story of mice and men with huge implications: Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators from the UK have apparently cured mice with well-established prostate tumors with no visible side effects via a new kind of tumor vaccine. And if it works for men like it worked for mice, it could make prostate cancer a preventable condition and open the door to additional cancer vaccines. The findings are preliminary but promising. Geneticists basically assembled a complementary DNA library from healthy prostate tissue and inserted snippets of that genetic code into a swarm of viruses that were introduced to the mice intravenously. This cDNA causes the viruses to produce prostate antigens, basically sending the immune system a distress signal with the prostate's unique signature on it. Related ArticlesElectric Fields Halt Spread of Brain Cancer FDA Approves First Cancer Vaccine, Heralding a New Era in TreatmentCan a Virus Kill Cancer?TagsScience, Clay Dillow, cancer,...

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