US researchers believe they have found a vaccine that can help patients fully recover from melanoma, even in its late stages.
Tests by scientists at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Centre have shown that the vaccine attacks tumour cells without harming healthy cells and can even target cells away from the area injected, the UK’sDaily Telegraphreported.
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“Our study shows we may have a cure for some advanced melanoma patients and a drug which has real benefits for others,” said Dr Howard Kaufman, of Chicago’s Rush University Medical Centre.
“This will save thousands of lives a year.”
A study of 50 patients who had been given nine months or less to live found that 16 percent made a full recovery and have remained disease-free for four years.
A further 28 percent saw their tumours halve in size.
“What surprised us was that the jab did not have an effect just on the cells we injected but on growths in other parts of the body that we couldn’t reach,” Dr Kaufman said.
“In other words, the vaccine prompted an immune response that was circulated through the bloodstream to distant sites.”
The treatment, called OncoVEX, will now undergo more rigorous testing, on 400 patients, and will then be fast-tracked so it could be on the market within five years.
Patients undergoing the treatment receive one injection every two weeks for up to 24 injections and can go home or back to work immediately after the jab.
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According to the Australian’ Government’s Department of Health and Ageing, Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, with approximately two in three Australians diagnosed with skin cancer before they reach the age of 70.
Melanoma is the least common but most deadly form of skin cancer and in 2005 there were 10,684 new cases of melanoma, making it overall the fourth most common form of cancer in Australia.
Melanoma is also one of the most common cancers to affect the young.
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