Researchers at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute at Ohio State may have found a preventive measure and remedy for cancer by injecting cancer vaccines into the human body.

The vaccine makes use of one form of protein, peptides, to attack the abundant tumor antigen, which facilitates the survival of cancerous cells. By activating people’s immune system, it will produce antibodies to eradicate the cancer tumor when discovered in the early stage.

The cancer vaccine will be most helpful to the cancer patients and people predisposed to cancer because of their family background, said Pravin T.P. Kaumaya, principal investigator of the cancer clinical trial and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, medical biochemistry, and microbiology.

Kaumaya and his team of researchers have spent the past 10 years in the development of this vaccine, and they are the pioneers in breast cancer vaccine research. The other doctors involved in the clinical trials are William E. Carson III, Charles Shapiro and Jeffrey M. Fowler from the cancer hospital.

“With this vaccine, we can immunize people predisposed to this cancer by creating memories for their antibodies so that the immune system will remember they have this cancer and start making antibodies when people start to develop cancer in their breast,” Kaumaya said.

Kaumaya will venture into immunization on monkeys in the beginning of December this year. This will signify a leap in vaccine development technology, as the results from the experiments conducted on the primates can be expected to closely resemble those of human beings, he said.

Researchers are also preparing for the first clinical trial on human beings to determine the toxicity and safety of using peptide vaccine. The main focus in the clinical trial is on breast, ovarian and colon cancer because they contain the most expressive protein, called HER-2, which is the easiest to detect among all cancer diseases, Kaumaya said.

If the vaccine is proven to be successful, the cancer vaccine can be used much like an influenza vaccine.

“It will not be too expensive and may need the people to get shots and boosters every year,” Kaumaya said. “This can be determined in phase two and three of the clinical trials.”

The first phase of the clinical trial is predicted to take about 12 months to two years before proceeding to the next phase, Kaumaya said. For a new vaccine to be marketed, it has to go through the third phase of the clinical trial and be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Kaumaya has to recruit as many patients as possible for the clinical trial – the goal for the first trial is to recruit 24 patients or more.

The trial is restricted to people who can pass an eligibility test, which requires the patients to enroll into the clinical trial at least four weeks after they underwent other cancer therapies. They also must display reactivity to some skin test antigens and possess tumor tissue blocks.

The result from the clinical trials will have sound impact on the development of other cancer vaccines.

“The strategies for producing the breast cancer vaccine can be used for other cancer after making some alteration to the vaccine if the trials are successful,” Kaumaya said.

Cancer research has been key in leading to a 50 percent decrease in mortality rate in the past years, said Beth Short, senior director of corporate communications for American Cancer Society, Columbus branch.

“Breast cancer has always been one of our top priorities,” Short said. “We encourage our patients to learn about all options and clinical trials so that they can make informed decisions.”

It is mandatory for all participating patients in the clinical trial to sign a permission form indicating their level of willingness and awareness to be involved in the trial.

Prior to carrying out the clinical trials on humans, the researchers experimented with mice by immunizing them with a vaccine, and the result was promising, Kaumaya said.

“We want to look at the immune response of the patients and see if the patients develop tumors in this trial,” he said. “We know the vaccine is going to be safe because it is protein.”

In spite of the trust in their vaccine, any side effects as the result of injecting the vaccine are still unpredictable, Kaumaya said.

Roger A. Miller, assistant director of clinical services for the Wilce Student Health Center, said the introduction of a cancer vaccine is important for cancer patients.

“We have detected cancer in the past at the health center,” Miller said. “It is always very tragic when we discovered the cancer and were unable to cure it.”

The health center encourages students to be aware of cancer precautions by having regular examinations and avoiding tobacco, he said.

According to the American Cancer Society Web site, about 192,200 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed among women last year.