We’ve Got The First Cancer Vaccine That Works. Yeah, Science!

There’s a vaccine that’s tailor-made to combat a specific kind of cancer. That works. In mice. But it still works.

io9:

A group of medical researchers in the U.K. and the U.S. have successfully cured prostate cancer in mice using a vaccine made partly from healthy human prostate DNA, delivered inside virus shells. This treatment could come to replace toxic chemotherapies, curing cancer with no painful side-effects.

The researchers injected the mice with virus shells (the outer skin of viruses) packed with “libraries” of DNA made up partly of DNA taken from healthy prostate. The researchers believed that delivering the DNA inside viruses would essentially trick the mouse immune system, sending it into overdrive to produce antibodies tailor-made to attack cancers of the prostate. And their theory turned out to be correct. The mice produced antibodies which attacked their cancerous tumors, effectively eliminating the cancer. Because this vaccine’s DNA libraries were tailor-made for prostate cancer, however, it also prevented the mice from producing antigens that attacked other organs in their bodies.

I know the cynical thing is to say that it doesn’t mean shit until it’s been successfully done with a human trial, but I can’t help it. This shit is exciting for me. I’m not getting any younger, and Uncle Prostrate whispers to me continually in my dreams that he’s going to get me.

Let’s do this!