First successes in vaccinations against skin cancer
Scientists achieve first successes in two independent studies with a vaccination against black skin cancer. Both of these procedures spur the immune system of the patient quasi to attack the cancer cells large area.
Birthmark or skin cancer?
Mainz (Germany). In Germany alone, around 20,000 people are suffering from black skin cancer every year. Over ten percent of patients die from it. The risk of developing skin cancer mainly depends on two factors: on the one hand the individual skin type and on the other hand the UV radiation exposure of the skin. Investigations have shown that just light skin types are particularly vulnerable. Therefore, they should always protect these people from the UV radiation by means of appropriate clothing and good sunscreen.
Unfortunately, medicine is often a defeat in the battle for cancer, because the cancer is often discovered only after it has spread very far in the body. This is because the cancer cells first multiply without noticeable symptoms. The immune system recognizes a part of the cancer cells, reacts to them however much too weak. This is because some tumor cells actively form messenger substances, which lead to an inhibition of the immune system. In addition, they can carry proteins on their surface, which are not a target for the immune system. In addition there is the partly rapid mutation of the degenerate cells and a partly similarity to the origin tissue. These factors mean that the cancer can spread rapidly and almost unhindered in the body.
Manipulation of the immune system
For this reason, scientists are looking for a way to stimulate the natural immune response of cancer patients in such a way that the immune defense detects tumors better and their inhibitory effect defies them. In the same two studies, scientists have attempted to make the immune system more successful by targeting tumor-specific proteins or peptides against cancer cells.
In the first study conducted by Patrick Ott from the Dana-Farber Institute in Boston, six patients with black skin cancer, whose melanomas were surgically removed just before therapy, analyzed the DNA of the tumor cells taken and compared them with that of healthy body cells. As the scientists report in the journal Nature, they then selected, based on the DNA results, 20 peptides, which were found only on the surface of the cancer cells and would most likely cause the strongest immune reaction. This specific vaccination is given to the patient several times a few days apart.
As desired, vaccination resulted in an immune reaction. In patients, the number of T-killer cells and helper cells increased significantly. In conclusion, four of the six patients remained tumourless over a period of 32 months. In the other two patients, a combination of inoculation and blocking agents helped the black skin cancer was defeated.
The second study is by Ugur Sahin of the University of Mainz. In principle, the scientists were quite similar. Their vaccination consisted not of peptides, but of synthetically tailor-made RNA. In the journal Nature, scientists report that they have administered their RNA vaccination to 13 patients with advanced black skin cancer. In this study, eight of the 13 patients remained cancer-free. In another, the tumors disappeared after the scientists gave him a means for the immune-inhibiting metabolism.
Successes allow phase two of the clinical trial
According to these results, the scientists are sure that this form of immunotherapy against skin cancer - and perhaps even other cancers - is promising. Now follows phase two of the clinical trial with significantly more subjects.
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