Therapeutic vaccine targets colon cancer proteins

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine are testing a therapeutic vaccine that spurs antibodies to attack a mutant form of protein found in both colorectal cancer tissue and the precancerous tissue that signals an increased risk of the disease.

While most therapeutic vaccines are designed to target the virus that causes cancer, like HPV, this vaccine hopes to thwart colon cancer by priming the immune system to recognize and attack abnormal MUC1. That protein is abundant in precancerous polyps. And the researchers say that a successful vaccine could do away with repeated colonoscopies for patients who are at risk of colon cancer.

"You would be using your immune system as a surveillance mechanism to prevent the development of malignancy," says Robert Schoen, professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The vaccine has already proven safe in trials involving advanced pancreatic cancer.

- read the report from MIT Technology Review