Ground breaking trial announced – Cancer vaccine
Researchers are undergoing a trial to test a Hamilton grown cancer vaccine which was announced in Ottawa on July 10, 2015. Tumors of the potential patients are biopsied at St. Joe’s for the Mage-3 protein normally found in melanomas, lung cancers and abdominal cancers.
The Mage-3 protein will trigger “attack mode” in the two viruses tested in this trial. The first virus, Adenovirus was developed at McMaster University. It trains the immune system to attack cancer cells that carry Mage-3. The second virus, Maraba virus was created in Ottawa, and it turns the immune system against cancer, as well as attacks the cancer cells themselves.
Nine patients have been treated in this trial in Hamilton, Ottawa and Toronto where none of the patients have experienced negative side effects. For now, the patients are only given one of the two viruses, but soon doctors will administer both viruses together which will be a historical study. About 30% of patients whose tumors were tested at St. Joe’s have the Mage-3 protein. The researchers hope the trial will treat 79 patients in total.
Read the article on CHCH News here: http://bit.ly/1CBXXIV