Prostata-cancer, gmo vaccin på G.

Allt fler drabbas av cancer. Den vanligaste cancerformen hos män är prostata-cancer, med 9 663 noterade fall år 2011. Detta skall jämföras med den vanligaste formen för kvinnor, som är bröstcancer, som har en något lägre siffra, 8 382. Källa cancerfonden.
Hur ser vaccinhimlen ut när det gäller prostata-cancer? Jag hörde talas om ett vaccin för några år sedan men då fanns det inte så mycket information. Men nu finns det lite att söka på för den som är intresserad.


Nya vaccin, nya metoder, nya innovationer och givetvis nya risker. DNA tekniken har öppnat nya dörrar, både på gott och ont. Genmodifierat är inne nu.... glasklart! Lika glasklart är att man inte vet effekten av användandet och vilka följder det kan få för alla andra levande friska varelser. Men man tror att riskerna är minimala.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9202782/Prostate-cancer-vaccine-uses-DNA-to-fight-disease.html

Prostate cancer vaccine uses DNA to fight disease

The first prostate cancer vaccine could be a step away after ministers gave their approval for a human trial of a new genetically modified therapy.

The treatment, which uses viruses carrying human DNA to direct the body's natural defences against cancer cells, is the first prostate cancer vaccine ever to reach late stage “phase three” trials in Europe.
No vaccines have yet been approved in Britain to treat any type of cancer, and scientists believe it could not only double the survival rate of prostate cancer sufferers but give way to a new range of similar treatments for other tumour types.
The treatment, developed by Bavarian-Nordic Immunotherapeutics, is aimed at men with advanced prostate cancer which cannot be cured by castration and for whom treatment options are very limited.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and mainly occurs in those over 50, with 36,000 new cases being diagnosed each year.
Researchers intend to conduct a full trial of the vaccine on about 30 patients across 10 British sites including Southampton and Surrey Universities, the Royal Marsden Hospital and a Cancer Research UK institute in Leeds.


Notera:

1. Prostvac är det första vaccin som testats som gått vidare till fas 3.
   
2. Vaccinet är främst avsett för män med långt framskriden prostata-cancer. Alltså de män som inte blivit friska efter en kastrering. Som ett möjligt alternativ till andra behandlingar.

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Patients will be recruited within the next two months and will be given seven injections under the skin over a five-month period, during which time doctors will assess their immune response to the vaccine and test them for any sideeffects.

Notera: 7 injektioner

Dr Reiner Laus, president of the drug company, said the vaccine would have far milder side effects than existing treatments like chemotherapy and would hopefully be licensed by 2015.

Notera: vaccinet tros ha mildare biverkningar än tex. cellgiftsbehandlingsterapi.

He added: “Right now this is the only cancer vaccine in this late stage of development with this large-scale potential for patients to benefit from it. Our testing stage is the last and most advanced.”
Results from earlier stage trials, which are primarily designed to test safety, suggest it could extend patients’ lives by an average of nine months, compared with four months after chemotherapy.

Notera: testresultat utvisar att patientens liv kan förlängas i genomsnitt med nio månader, jämför med cellgiftsbehandlingsterapi som förlänger livet med 4 månader.


Because the vaccine, known as Prostvac, has been genetically modified researchers had to seek approval from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which assesses potential environmental and human health risks, as well as medical regulators for the trial to begin.

Notera: att speciellt tillstånd krävs eftersom Prostvac blivit genmodifierat vilket kan medföra risker för både människor och miljö.


Officials gave the go-ahead in January after finding there was only a “minimal risk” of the modified virus escaping into the environment or infecting healthy people.

Notera: tillstånd gavs då de endast fann en minimal risk för att modifierat virus skulle kunna rymma ut i det fria och smitta friska människor. Intressant fråga är här: hur sprids detta virus, via luft, via kroppsvätskor, via annat?


Trials have already begun on patients at various locations in America, and are planned to take place in 18 other countries as well as the UK.
The therapy is a combination of the virus used in a smallpox vaccine and a strain of the fowlpox virus, which causes diseases in poultry.

Notera: vilka virusstammar som använts!

Scientists added four human genes to the DNA of the viruses which caused them to develop chemical signals which are found in cancerous cells but not healthy ones.
By delivering the signature protein, known as prostate-specific antigen (PSA), in the form of a virus the treatment provokes the immune system into eliminating any cells which carry it.
Dr Laus said the vaccine could potentially be adapted in future to form a protective effect.
He said: “It is now being tested in patients who already have prostate cancer, as a treatment rather than a prevention, but one of the attractions with a therapy like this is we can move it to earlier stages, and maybe eventually use it preventively.
Dr Kat Arney of Cancer Research UK said: “Many researchers around the world are investigating the potential of vaccines for treating cancer.
“Early trials of this vaccine have been promising, so we look forward to seeing the results of this larger trial in men with advanced prostate cancer, a disease that urgently needs more effective therapies.”
Dr Kate Holmes, Head of Research at The Prostate Cancer Charity said: “This vaccine will not prevent prostate cancer, however results to date show it may be an exciting breakthrough for the treatment of men in the final stages of the disease.

Notera: detta vaccin kommer inte att förebygg prostata-cancer – det är dock ett genombrott för de eller dem som vill förlänga livet. Hur livskvaliteten blir förtäljer inte historien..... valen kommer att bli fler för de drabbade....



“Men with advanced prostate cancer currently have very few treatment options available to them and if proven successful in the third trial phase this new vaccine would offer these men an urgently needed additional life extending treatment once other available options have stopped working. We await with anticipation the results of the phase III trial.”


Det skall bli intressant att följa detta vaccins utveckling. Funderar fortfarande över om man verkligen kan få fram ett vaccin som kan förebygga denna typ av cancer. Vet man med 100 % vad den orsakas av? Vilka faktorer som spelar in? Det lär komma mer information..... vi har några år kvar till slutligt godkännande.......

Varför får man känslan av att forskarna är mer intresserade av att hålla sjukdomen igång än att förevigt utrota den?