THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 27, 1995 TAG: 9503270182
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Developers of the first vaccine for prostate cancer plan to begin testing within a month, opening up an entirely new approach to treating a malignancy that kills 40,400 American men annually.
Prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cancer killer of American men. There is no effective therapy once the tumor has spread beyond the prostate gland.
Many doctors believe the best hope of for a cure is to cut out the prostate as soon as a blood test reveals it is cancerous. However, the surgery is controversial, since doctors can't be certain beforehand whether the cancer is still confined to the prostate. Thirty percent to 40 percent of patients discover the cancer to have spread.
The new treatment would be given to these men after the operation to prompt their immune systems to hunt down cancer cells throughout their bodies.
``We are trying to prevent the cancer from coming back,'' said Dr. Jonathan W. Simons of Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore.
The treatment is called a vaccine because it manipulates the body's own natural disease fighters to combat an illness. Unlike most vaccines, which are given to prevent sickness from occurring, this one is intended for use after a disease is already established.
About 100,000 American men had their prostate glands removed last year for cancer. Simons said that if the treatment proves useful, doctors may give the vaccine to about half of all such patients.
KEYWORDS: CANCER by CNB