据英国广播公司6月20日报道，由世界各地的科学家组成的研发小组表示，他们采用新的方法开发疫苗并用来治疗前列腺癌。

《自然—医学》杂志刊登的报告说，从健康细胞提出的DNA被用来开发一种新疫苗。这种疫苗用于患前列腺癌的老鼠，治愈率高达80%。研究人员相信，这一方法有可能适用于其他癌症疫苗的开发，并已经开始对黑色素瘤疫苗的研究。

英国癌症研究会表示，这是一项重大的科研发展，不过疫苗仍需要进行人体试验。

研发癌症疫苗并非新创举。与传统疫苗防止疾病的作用不同，癌症疫苗通过促使自身免疫系统攻击已经生成的肿瘤达到治疗效果。

英国利兹大学和美国一家诊所进行的这一研究，从健康的前列腺细胞分解DNA后，植入病毒。这种病毒不断感染试验老鼠。前列腺DNA使这一病毒生成多项前列腺抗原，当免疫系统抵抗病毒时学会了对前列腺癌细胞发起攻击。

其中至关重要的是，健康的前列腺细胞和其它身体部分并不会受到影响。

科学家在试验室中，只用了一个疗程共九次注射取得前列腺肿瘤80%的治愈率。

不过研究人员表示，这一疫苗开始进行人体试验仍然需要多年时间。

原文出处：

Nature Medicine  DOI:10.1038/nm.2390

Broad antigenic coverage induced by vaccination with virus-based cDNA libraries cures established tumors

Timothy Kottke; Fiona Errington; Jose Pulido; Feorillo Galivo; Jill Thompson; Phonphimon Wongthida; Rosa Maria Diaz; Heung Chong; Elizabeth Ilett; John Chester; Hardev Pandha; Kevin Harrington; Peter Selby; Alan Melcher; Richard Vile

Effective cancer immunotherapy requires the release of a broad spectrum of tumor antigens in the context of potent immune activation. We show here that a cDNA library of normal tissue, expressed from a highly immunogenic viral platform, cures established tumors of the same histological type from which the cDNA library was derived. Immune escape occurred with suboptimal vaccination, but tumor cells that escaped the immune pressure were readily treated by second-line virus-based immunotherapy. This approach has several major advantages. Use of the cDNA library leads to presentation of a broad repertoire of (undefined) tumor-associated antigens, which reduces emergence of treatment-resistant variants and also permits rational, combined-modality approaches in the clinic. Finally, the viral vectors can be delivered systemically, without the need for tumor targeting, and are amenable to clinical-grade production. Therefore, virus-expressed cDNA libraries represent a novel paradigm for cancer treatment addressing many of the key issues that have undermined the efficacy of immuno- and virotherapy to date.