THE latest weapon in the war on cancer is a patient鈥檚 own cells. A prostate cancer vaccine that the US Food and Drug Administration rejected in 2007 has now , making it the first cancer vaccine to do so.
Provenge, made by Dendreon of Seattle, does not prevent or cure prostate cancer, which killed 27,000 men in the US last year and more than 10,000 in the UK in 2008. Rather, in its largest study yet, the therapy extended the lives of 512 people with aggressive prostate tumours by four months, compared with patients who did not receive it.
Administering Provenge involves harvesting a patient鈥檚 immune cells and exposing them to a protein produced by prostate tumours. These 鈥減rimed鈥� cells are then re-injected into the patient, where they attack tumours.
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Though modest, the latest result shows that harnessing the immune system is a viable way to fight cancer. Oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston led the trial. He expects similar approaches to other cancers, such as melanoma, kidney cancer and lymphoma, to be approved in five to 10 years and that tweaks to Provenge will see it further extend people鈥檚 lives.
