A new folate-receptor alpha vaccine is going to clinical trial at Mayo:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01606241?term=mayo+folate+breast+cancer+vaccine&rank=1
This is the paper I found by the PI:
http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/24/26/4254.full.pdf
It goes into the peptide vaccine's composition and the folate receptor target is also expressed in small mounts in kidneys. So people with autoimmune problems or kidney problems may need to be careful (excluded in the clinical trial).
Overall vaccines tend to have low toxicities so hope this trial would recruit easily.
Another strategy that can target folate-receptor alpha is similar to TDM-1's conjugate strategy:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/yv05130861863525/
A lot of work needs to go into how to shuttle the chemo through the receptor-binding into the cancer cells, and unload the chemo once inside.
I'm also reading a book "Emperor of illness", it told of the story of Herceptin. If not for the dedication and risk-taking of a small band of scientists/advocates/patients, Herceptin would not have been invented, or its adoption would have been signficantly delayed.
In fact, in every major development in cancer cure chronicled in this book, personal passion and risk taking played a significant role. So when I see early projects like this, I ask myself, what can I do to help? As a patient, the least I can do is
1. I can educate myself on different clinical trials and participate in relevant clinical trials. Donate my patient record/tumor samples to researchers
2. Instead of buying a fancy wig or eat something unhealthy, I can donate to a metastatic breast cancer fund or directly to researcher that's working on something earlystage but interesting. My vanity/sweet tooth budget can go to research :-)
3. I can share information with other patients
No comments:
Post a Comment