New leukaemia cancer vaccine

A new cancer treatment that strengthens a patient’s immune system and enables them to fight the disease more effectively is being trialled on patients for the first time in the UK. The treatment will use a new DNA vaccine developed by scientists from the University of Southampton and a vaccine delivery system created by Inovio Pharmaceuticals. A selected group of volunteers who have either chronic or acute myeloid leukaemia will take part in the trial.

Scientists believe they can control the disease by vaccinating patients against a cancer associated gene (Wilm’s tumour gene 1), which is expressed in almost all chronic and acute leukaemias. “We have already demonstrated that this new type of DNA vaccine is safe and can successfully activate the immune systems in patients with cancer of the prostate, bowel and lung. We believe it will prove to be beneficial to patients with acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia,” comments Professor Christian Ottensmeier, Chair in Experimental Cancer Medicine at the University of Southampton and consultant oncologist at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust

The research is funded by the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) programme, which is financed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and managed by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)..