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Written By: Agencies | Published : October 31, 2013 3:29 PM IST
Russian scientists have developed a vaccine for the treatment of cancer that can increase the patient's lifespan more than two-fold, ITAR-TASS reported on Wednesday.
The vaccine, developed at the Institute of Clinical Immunology in the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Novosibirsk, has already successfully passed clinical tests, said institute's director Vladimir Kozlov.
Currently, it is being administered to patients by injection at the third and fourth stages of cancer.
'We are deriving dendritic cells from the human body and loading them with tumour antigens,' Kozlov said. (Read: The latest advances in cancer treatments)
'Dendritic cells process them, then we inject the cells into the patient and they start working in the body evoking a strong immune response. That is, they are actively fighting the tumour.'
The institute's creation 'is not a classical vaccine, which is the means to prevent the illness', Kozlov said. 'In fact, it is a cell therapy.'
The vaccine is counteracting several types of cancer - colorectal (bowel) cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer - and the institute is ready to start its industrial production, Kozlov added.
However, the scientist added that other types of therapy were to be used as well, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. (Read: Chemotherapy, carcinoma, complete remission and other such cancer terms explained)
What is cancer?
Cancer is a group of over one hundred diseases characterized by abnormal, uncontrolled cell growth. In a healthy body cells grow, die and are replaced in a very controlled way. Damage or change in the genetic material of cells by environmental or internal factors result in cells that don't die and continue to multiply until a massive cancer or a tumour develops. Most cancer related deaths are due to metastasis, malignant cells that penetrate into the circulatory system and establish colonies in other parts of the body. Great advancements have been made but cancer is still leading cause of death for people under 85. (Read more about cancer)
With inputs from IANS
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