New super vaccine could tackle 70% of lethal cancers

A new vaccine could be the answer to the majority of lethal cancers.

Scientists have developed a new super vaccine that could be used to treat seven in ten lethal cancers.

The vaccine is said to be better than ‘wonder drug’ Herceptin and shrunk breast tumours in mice by 80 per cent. Researchers believe it could also tackle prostate, pancreatic, bowel and ovarian cancers.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and the Mayo Clinic in the United States hope to pilot the drug on people within two years. If all goes well, the vaccine could be on the market by 2020.

Over 300,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in Britain each year and the disease kills around half this number annually.

Unlike other drugs that attack cancer cells, the new treatment harnesses the power of the immune system to fight the tumours.

‘Cancer cells have a special way of thwarting the immune system by putting sugars on the surface of tumour cells so they can travel around the body without being detected,’ says Professor Sandra Gendler of Mayo Clinic.

The new vaccine has three parts and activates all three components of the immune system, reducing tumour size by 80 per cent.

‘This exciting new approach could lead to treatments for breast cancer patients who have few options,’ says Dr Caitlin Palframan of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

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