Cancer vaccine - what??
(From The Star)Cancer vaccine trials for 230
KUALA LUMPUR: Some 230 advanced-stage lung cancer patients in the country will take part in clinical trials for a therapeutic cancer vaccine.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said the vaccine, Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), was the first of its kind in the world and produced here with the cooperation between Malaysia and Cuba.
“The second and third phases of the clinical trials would be conducted on 230 patients who volunteered to undertake the trials at 14 hospitals nationwide.
“They have been told they have about six months to live,” he told a press conference.
Dr Latiff said the trials would be conducted by a local biotechnology company and Cuban researchers.
Ok, I'm really confused as to how EGF can be used as a cancer vaccine...as far as I know the therapeutic use of recombinant growth factors is in special bandages to heal chronic wounds like bad burns and diabetic ulcers. But I've spent all day reading Harry Potter so I'm not going to PubMed it now.
I'm suspicious of "big" announcements with regard to scientific research in Malaysia because Malaysian officials like to say all kinds of karut stuff...like last week the Fisheries Department said they were going to save the vanishing leatherbacks by cloning turtles (can't access the original article because the New Straits Times is a lot more stingy about giving free access to archives). I mean, do you know how hard it is to clone mammals? Nobody's even TRIED reptiles yet...Junaidi can go jump in the lake with Michael Crichton and his dinosaurs lah.
posted by xenobiologista @ 22:42
3 Comments:
Here is the link to the vaccine that they talked about
Cancer Biol Ther. 2006 Feb;5(2):145-9. Epub 2006 Feb 15
basically it is an active immunotherapy where they conjugate EGF with meningistis B bacteria protein. This way the body will ellicit immune response against EGF and hence facilitates the depletion of EGF, resulting in control of tumor growth. This vaccine has passed phase 1 clinical trial and seemed to be slightly effective..
Ahh ok thanks for the explanation. Makes more sense now. So the meningitis B protein is just as an adjuvant?
Meningitis B protein is not an adjuvant. It is a carrier. It is the same as attaching protein with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) for polyclonal antibody production in rabbit.
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