US moves a step closer to finding a cure for cervical cancer

For ages now we have heard of women who have lost their battle with cervical cancer. Now, a therapeutic vaccine being tested by the US  may just provide an answer towards eradicating the Human Papilloma Virus (that causes this type of cancer particular in women). The study published on Wednesday by Science Translational Medicine   says: " We report encouraging… tolerability, and immunogenicity results for a therapeutic HPV candidate vaccine, VGX-3100…. Eighteen women previously treated for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade … received a three-dose (intramuscular) regimen of highly engineered plasmid DNA  antigens…. Immunization was well tolerated with reports of mild injection site reactions." [caption id=“attachment_487516” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pic used for representational purposes only.[/caption] In simpler language what this translates into is that the proteins developed to fight the Human Papilloma Virus (in the form of the vaccine VGX-3100) has been tested in 18 women suffering from cervical cancer so far, and all of them have shown significant improvements with only slight allergic reactions. The experimental drug, called VGX-3100, is a therapeutic vaccine using synthetic DNA that is intended to work in patients who have abnormal precancerous changes in the cervix. It is not related to preventive vaccines meant to protect against infection with HPV. The experimental vaccine attempts to harness the human immune system to fight disease, writes Rony Caryn Rabin in the New York Times. The administration of the vaccine, which is in the experimental stages now, showed a peak in the immunity of patients, who produced natural proteins to stave off the cancerous viirus. Similar cancer vaccines have been under development for about 20 years, but over all the results have been disappointing so far, William C Phelps, program director for preclinical and translational cancer research with the American Cancer Society, told the New York Times.