Reports of a First Mesothelioma Vaccine

Full Article at: First mesothelioma vaccine
March 5, 5:14 AMBirmingham Science News Examiner Paul Hamaker


Dutch physicians and researchers have developed the first vaccine for mesothelioma as reported in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and released to the public on March 4, 2010.

Mesothelioma is a cancerous disease of the lungs that results from exposure to asbestos. The disease can remain dormant for as long as fifty years before becoming active. Survival times are a year to fifteen months with radiation treatment.

The Dutch vaccine uses tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells. "Dendrite cells are extremely potent antigen-presenting cells specialized for inducing activation and proliferation of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and helper CD4+ lymphocytes." Basically the technique uses the body’s immune system to manufacture mesothelioma specific antibodies.

"Each vaccine was composed of 50 million mature dendritic cells pulsed with autologous tumor lysate and keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) as surrogate marker." The presence of T cells that were antagonistic to the tumors are the sign of succes in this therapy.

Treatment is a series of three vaccinations administered intradermally and intravenously over a two week period after chemotherapy.

The results were eighty percent effective in the test group. The earlier a person received the treatment the greater their chances were to be free of mesothelioma. The only side effects were a skin rash and flu like symptoms that lasted a day or two.

Alabama has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma and one of the greatest potentials for new cases of mesothelioma because of the number of plants that used asbestos or buildings that contained asbestos.

According to http://www.mesothelioma.com the sites in Birmingham that employed potential mesothelioma victims are Birmingham Steel Corporation, Sloss Industries Corporation, James H. Miller Electric Generating Plant, and all older school buildings.

The web site also gives access to treatment options and assistance for Veterans.

Consolidative dendritic cell-based immunotherapy elicits cytotoxicity against malignant
mesothelioma
Joost P. Hegmans1, Joris D. Veltman1, Margaretha E. Lambers1, I. Jolanda M. de Vries2, Carl
G. Figdor2, Rudi W.Hendriks1, Henk C. Hoogsteden1, Bart N. Lambrecht1,3, and Joachim .G.
Aerts1,4
1. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam
2. Department of Tumor Immunology, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences
(NCMLS), Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
3. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
4. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Amphia Hospital, Breda, the Netherlands

http://www.thoracic.org/newsroom/press-releases/resources/Aerts_Mesothelioma.pdf