[ RadSafe ] Cancer vaccine and radiation treatment for Prostate cancer

[John Jacobus]

Note:  No hormetic effect.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

NIH News

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
http://www.nci.nih.gov/


EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
Sunday, May 1, 2005
12:01 a.m. ET

Contact:
NCI Press Office
301-496-6641
ncipressofficers at mail.nih.gov


COMBINATION RADIATION/VACCINE THERAPY FOR PROSTATE
CANCER MAY BENEFIT SOME PATIENTS

A pilot study of an experimental therapy for prostate
cancer has found that a cancer vaccine can be safely
administered to patients undergoing radiation therapy.
In some patients receiving the vaccine, an immune
response against tumor cells may occur, according to
the results of a phase II clinical trial led by
scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI),
part of the National Institutes of Health. A strong
immune response is an indication that the body is
fighting the cancer.

This was the first trial to combine radiation and a
cancer vaccine for treating prostate cancer, and the
results now pave the way for a larger trial to
evaluate the efficacy of the combination therapy in
treating the disease. The combination therapy was well
tolerated.

Cancer vaccines are intended either to treat existing
cancers or to prevent the development of cancer. The
experimental vaccine used in this study was designed
to strengthen the body's natural defenses against
prostate cancer.

"The idea is that you can stimulate the body's immune
system to recognize and attack tumor cells through the
use of a vaccine," explained James L.
Gulley, M.D., Ph.D., of NCI's Laboratory of Tumor
Immunology and Biology and the first author on the
study. The study appears in the May 2005 issue of
"Clinical Cancer Research".

Thirteen of 17 patients who received the combination
therapy had at least a three-fold increase in immune
cells that attack a protein on the surface of tumor
cells, compared to no detectable increases in eight
patients who received radiation alone. The researchers
also found evidence that the vaccine may have "revved
up" the immune systems of some patients against other
tumor proteins.

The rationale for testing a vaccine/radiation
combination came from the preclinical observations
that radiation can alter tumor cells in a way that
makes it easier for the body's immune system to kill
tumors. Furthermore, mice were cured of tumors when
given local radiation plus vaccine, as compared with
either treatment alone, which had minimal effects.

In addition, cancer patients who get hormonal therapy
plus radiation tend to do better than those who
receive radiation alone. The researchers hypothesized
that stimulating the immune system with a vaccine
might be another way to generate a "systemic" therapy
that might work in conjunction with localized
radiation.

An estimated 30 percent to 40 percent of patients
treated with surgery or radiation for localized
prostate cancer relapse within a decade.

"We have shown that this therapy is safe and
well-tolerated -- the first step toward finding
alternative treatments for patients with localized
prostate cancer, especially those at high risk for
failing current treatments," said Gulley.

For more information about cancer, visit the NCI Web
site at http://www.cancer.gov or call NCI's Cancer
Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER
(1-800-422-6237).

##

This NIH News Release is available online at:
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2005/nci-01.htm.

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"Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
Hugh Blair, 1783

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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