By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - An enzyme that cancer cells use to keep themselves
immortal" might provide a target for a universal cancer vaccine, researchers said on Tuesday.
Experiments in mice suggest a vaccine based on the enzyme telomerase might work against
a range of cancers, a team at Duke University in North Carolina and Geron Corp. <GERN.O>
reported. [...]
Gilboa's team found that the active part of telomerase can stimulate development of immune
cells that can kill several different kinds of mouse and human cancers.
Many researchers are working on cancer vaccines. But there are many different
kinds of cancers, and the cells often have their own specific surface proteins that the
vaccines target. These proteins are known as tumor-specific antigens.
"The thinking has been that because every cancer is different -- melanoma, breast, et cetera
-- that each cancer has its own specific set of antigens that must be used for a vaccine,"
said Gilboa. "We're looking for a universal antigen -- one antigen to try to treat every cancer patient."
Telomerase might do the trick, he said.
"However, by itself, telomerase is not a strong antigen, so to make an effective, broadly
applicable cancer vaccine we will need to optimize and possibly combine it with other
universal antigens," he added. His team's vaccine stimulated an immune response that
slowed tumor growth of melanoma, breast and bladder cancers implanted into mice.
It also worked in human cells in laboratory dishes, they reported. The cells produced
immune responses that killed a variety of patients' cancer cells in the lab.
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