Big Breakthrough New cancer drug enabled 100 percent survival in mice

Will skin cancer no longer pose a threat in the future??

Researchers have now developed a new cancer vaccine that, in combination with another drug, has been able to eliminate melanoma in mice with a 100 percent success rate. The therapy could potentially be used alongside other therapies to treat particularly aggressive tumors.

The researchers from the University of Texas and the Scripps Research Institute found in their latest research that a newly developed vaccine in combination with another drug can completely eradicate skin cancer in mice. The physicians published the results of their study in the English-language journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences".

Vaccine can also prevent the recurrence of cancer

The research team added a molecule called Diprovocim to a vaccine. Diprovocim is a so-called adjuvant, a substance that enhances the body's immune response. The vaccine causes the immune system to adapt to the fight against cancer cells and be ready to fight the cancer if it ever returns. This is especially important as it could prevent the recurrence of cancer.

Vaccine allows complete cure of melanoma

This new form of therapy has provided a complete healing response in the treatment of melanoma, said study author Professor Dale Boger of the Scripps Research Institute in a press release. Just as a vaccine can train the body to fend off external pathogens, this new vaccine trains the immune system to look for a tumor.

How was the investigation done?

The current study included a total of 24 mice with a particularly aggressive form of melanoma, all of which were treated with anti-PD-L1 anti-cancer therapy. The animals were divided into three equal groups. One group received the cancer vaccine with diprovocim, one group received the vaccine with an alternative adjuvant called alum, and the remainder was given only the vaccine.

Survival of treated mice was 100 percent

The vaccine does not need to be administered directly into the tumor, the scientists explain. The mice were first given two intramuscular injections seven days apart. After 54 days, the researchers then found a survival rate of 100 percent in the animals receiving both the vaccine and the diprovocim. When the animals received the vaccine and alum, the survival rate was 25 percent. In contrast, the mice were treated with the vaccine alone, the survival rate was 0 percent, say the doctors.

Melanomas could not occur again

The power of Diprovocim is based on its interaction with the immune system. In the most recent study, use of the molecule as adjuvant in the vaccine cocktail stimulated the formation of tumor infiltrating white blood cells. The immune system was helped from the beginning to fight the tumor. Attempts to restore the melanoma in the first group were unsuccessful, the researchers explain. Apparently, the animal is vaccinated against a new disease, so to speak.

Further research is needed

The team is now developing more preclinical tests for this vaccine and trying to find out how it works in combination with other cancer medicines. If further tests are successful, human trials may soon begin, the scientists explain. (As)