Researchers say their cancer vaccine is ready for human trials

The Vaccine Research Team at Translational Research Institute, Australia says 
they are ready to begin human clinical trials of their cancer vaccine. 
Image courtesy TRI

CANCER DIGEST – July 17, 2020 – Scientists are ready to begin clinical trials for a new cancer vaccine in humans they say has the potential to treat a variety of blood cancers, following results of preclinical trials appearing in the journal Clinical and Translational Immunology.
Lead Researcher Kristen Radford, associate professor at the Translational Research Institute says the vaccine has shown promising results in a variety of blood cancers.

"We are hoping this vaccine could be used to treat blood cancers, such as myeloid leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and paediatric leukaemias, plus solid malignancies including breast, lung, renal, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, and glioblastoma," Radford said in a press release.

The study in mice with human cancers showed that vaccine had the ability to target key receptors on cancer cells that trigger a tumor-specific immune response.

Professor Radford says the vaccine offers several advantages over existing vaccines, which have also shown promise in early clinical trials. This vaccine can be produced as an "off-the-shelf" treatment, as opposed to many such patient-specific vaccines that require customizing the vaccine in the lab before patient infusion.

Another advantage of their prototype, Radford says, is that the vaccine targets the key tumor cells required for the initiation of tumor-specific immune responses, which should maximize effectiveness while minimizing the side effects.

Sources: Translational Research Institute press release and  the journal Clinical and Translational Immunology.