Good results for skin cancer 'vaccine'

The modified cells can be put back

A vaccine custom-made from a patient's own skin cancer cells appears to improve their survival chances.

But UK experts have warned that the treatment still needs to undergo more rigorous testing.

Malignant melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer, causing the vast majority of skin cancer deaths.

David Berd, professor of medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, reported how the treatment, given after traditional surgery to remove the melanoma, extended average survival time.

The trial looked at 214 melanoma patients whose disease had spread beyond the original skin cancer to affect nearby lymph nodes.

On average, half of those with cancer spread to one node were alive five years later.

The surgical cure rate for those patients is only 20%.

The vaccine is made by taking cancer cells from the patient, inactivating them and treating them with a chemical which modifies them slightly.

They are now injected back into the patient, where they are recognised as foreign by the body's own immune system.

Cancer cells attacked

This immune reaction also attacks cancer cells which have not been modified.

Professor Berd said: "One of the problems is that there isn't a test for the efficacy of vaccines.

"We give the test before the two month vaccine treatment, and after.

"Only 40% to 50% develop the response - but those that do live longer."

However, a senior scientist with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund said that full, properly-conducted clinical trials would have to be carried out before the vaccine could be confirmed as a better treatment.

Dr Julia Newton-Bishop, a consultant dermatologist, said: "These are very encouraging results, but the thing we need now is evidence.

"However, it's good for patients to know that there is hope."

A trial of a similar vaccine, made not from the patient's cancer cells, but from a variety of melanoma cells taken from other tumours, is also showing encouraging results, and is currently undergoing full trials in hospitals around the world, including the UK.

Professor Berd's vaccine is also just starting this process, with full results expected in five year's time.