CALIFORNIA — Stanford researchers tried a new approach in fighting cancerous tumors by using mice, and what they found was, not only did the vaccine eliminate the tumors they targeted, but it also eliminated the cancer found in the mice.
According to Stanford Medicine, researchers used a one-time application of two agents on mice and saw the elimination of tumors all over the body.
“This approach bypasses the need to identify tumor-specific immune targets and doesn’t require wholesale activation of the immune system or customization of a patient’s immune cells,” said Ronald Levy, MD, professor of oncology.
One agent is currently already approved for use in humans, according to Stanford Medicine. The other has been tested for human use in several unrelated clinical trials.
“The approach worked startlingly well in laboratory mice with transplanted mouse lymphoma tumors in two sites on their bodies. Injecting one tumor site with the two agents caused the regression not just of the treated tumor, but also of the second, untreated tumor. In this way, 87 of 90 mice were cured of the cancer. Although the cancer recurred in three of the mice, the tumors again regressed after a second treatment,” according to Stanford Medicine press release.
A clinical trial was launched in January to test the effect of the treatment in patients with lymphoma.
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