Off the wire
• Urgent: Gold up on weaker U.S. equities  • Gov't report says Britain has no better alternative to remaining in EU  • News Analysis: Big wins on Super Tuesday take Trump, Clinton closer to party nomination for U.S. presidential race  • Urgent: Mozambique confirms finding of aircraft debris, not certain related to MH370  • Austrian asylum applications drop to pre-crisis lows  • Sri Lanka announces joining of landmine treaty in Geneva  • Ireland's PM says his party to move forward to form gov't  • U.S. rock band reschedules Lisbon concert  • FLASH: MOZAMBICAN AUTHORITY CONFIRMS FINDING OF AIRCRAFT DEBRIS, BUT NOT CERTAIN RELATION TO MH370  • Spotlight: EU leadership steps up efforts to stem migration flows  
You are here: 　 Home

UK launches new trial to test cancer vaccine

Xinhua, March 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

A team of researchers is testing a new vaccine in Britain, which is aimed at enabling the immune system to fight against advanced cancer, King's College London announced on Wednesday.

The VAPER trial is taking place at universities and research institutes in London. A Surrey hospital and research center is expected to commence patient recruitment later this year.

The first two patients have already been vaccinated in a trial that is anticipated to run for 18 to 24 months.

The aim of the trial is to establish the benefits of the vaccination program, any side effects, and the impact of the treatment on patients' quality of life. Researchers hope the results will take them one step closer to developing an effective but non-toxic cancer therapy that can be used in clinical practice.

The vaccine works by resembling the natural immune responses generated by the body against bacterial and viral infections, and all patients with any solid tumor, irrespective of their type of cancer and tumor genetic profile, are believed to have the potential to benefit from this sort of treatment, according to King's College London.

"The unique feature of this study is the use of additional agents to boost the vaccination response. It is hoped this will abolish the inhibitory effect of regulatory immune cells present in the patients' circulation, which are believed to have limited the effectiveness of previous cancer vaccine approaches," said Dr. James Spicer from King's College London, one of the lead researchers in the team.

The design of the VAPER trial builds on results obtained from previous pilot immunotherapy studies and is supported by data from related trials carried out in the UK, United States and elsewhere in Europe.

Should the trial prove successful, it will be expanded to a larger number of patients to further assess its effectiveness, the researchers also said. Endit