A potential remedy for the recurrence of various types of cancers is set to undergo clinical trials that will be conducted by Mexican researchers.
The said treatment, which involves a combination of different vaccines mixed together, aims to help the immune system recognize and terminate cancerous cells remaining in the human body.
The team, led by Dr. Juan Pablo Márquez Manriquez from the International Cancer Center in Sonora, had been working on the treatment for years now.
"Since early in the past decade, the team has synthesized four peptides able to induce an immune response to tumor cells," Fox News Latino reported.
The team later tested the compound on lab mice genetically modified to develop cancer at a certain time. The rodents that got the vaccine reportedly did not develop cancer.
"In 2006, we conducted a pilot study in Sonora on 25 patients with ovarian [cancer], 25 with colon cancer, 25 with multiple myeloma and 25 with breast cancer," Márquez explained. "We included four patients with pancreatic cancer because there weren't many at the time."
Among the said participants, only one died, and that was because of an unrelated cardiac condition.
Tests also showed the treatment doesn't prompt toxicity or an auto-immune reaction. As such, the vaccine has been deemed ready for clinical trials, which will take place after the team gets federal approval from regulators, probably in January or February.
"Tests will be conducted in Mexico City, Sonora, Ciudad Obregón and most likely Tijuana, in collaboration with the National Oncology Institute, which Márquez says is the top cancer institution in Mexico and Latin America," Latin Times said. "If everything goes well, the treatment should be approved in Mexico and the U.S. by 2017, 2019 at the very latest."
Back in February last year, it was reported that a joint effort between Mexican and American researchers produced the vaccine. The said milestone was presented at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Cancer Treatment National Institute (Incan) in Merida, Yucatan.
"Prior to this treatment, there was no way of preventing cancer, with early detection being the only chance of overcoming it," Mexico News Network noted. "There is now new hope thanks to specialists from Washington University and the National Cancer Research Center of Sonora."
In the past decades, there have been various efforts to develop a treatment for cancer, as well as remedies that prevent its development. In 2013, it was reported that a number of breast cancer vaccines have undergone clinical trials as part of the effort to beat the disease.
Aside from these, ovarian cancer vaccines are also on the horizon. Currently, these are still undergoing clinical trials and are hoped to be used successfully to prevent the disease in the future.
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