StemCell Therapy

* Vaccine was safe, showed signs of being effective

* Vaccine aims to train immune system to fight cancer

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, Oct (KOSDAQ: 039200.KQ - news) 10 (Reuters) - A new type of cervical cancer vaccine made by Inovio Pharmaceuticals (AMEX: INO - news) has shown early promise as a potential treatment for pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, researchers at the company said on Wednesday.

Instead of preventing infections caused by certain strains of the human papillomavirus or HPV, as is the aim of Merck (BSE: MERCK.BO - news) 's Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF.PK - news) 's Cervarix vaccine, the Inovio vaccine is designed to train the immune system to kill cells that spur cancer growth in women who are already infected.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women globally, causing 493,000 new cases and 274,000 deaths each year. About 10 to 25 percent of women who develop moderate to severe pre-cancerous lesions in their cervix, known as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, are able to clear them on their own.

"It was not clear why that happens," said Joseph Kim, chief executive of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, which funded the study.

But many of these women tend to have higher levels of immune system cells known as T cells against two HPV-specific, cancer-causing genes known as E6 and E7 oncogenes.

The company set out to develop a vaccine to train a patient's immune system to make large quantities of these cells which could specifically target and kill these oncogenes.

"That is what this study has shown," Kim said of research published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Continue reading here:
Vaccine to treat cervical cancer shows early promise

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