Malaghan Institute
Scoop Independent News
06/10/2010
$4.5 million investment into development of cancer vaccine
Treating cancer patients with a vaccine is one step closer to reality as a result of $4.5 million investment of Health Research Council of New Zealand funding in cancer research.
Dr Ian Hermans, who heads the HRC-funded cancer vaccine research programme at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, based at Victoria University of Wellington’s Kelburn campus, says the funded study has developed from more than a decade’s worth of research into developing techniques that train a patient’s immune system to fight their cancer.
While the research will focus specifically on targeting melanoma, it is anticipated that the methodology being developed could be applied to other cancers in the future.
The therapeutic vaccine approach differs from the preventative vaccines used to protect against diseases such as measles or the flu because the cancer vaccine is designed to be given to an individual after they have already shown signs of disease.
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