You might soon be able to access a cancer vaccine in the latest rush to find a life-saving solution to the disease.
This is after researchers from Oxford University created a vaccine that has shown the potential to treat cancer.
The researchers who also developed the widely used AstraZeneca vaccine to fight COVID-19 have developed the potential cancer vaccine that is to be administered in two doses.
The research findings which were published in the online open-access journal BMJ on September 14, show the vaccine was developed using the same viral vector technology used in the Oxford Covid vaccine.
The vaccine, according to the research findings increases the levels of anti-tumor T cells and shrinks tumors in mice.
The vaccine targets specific structures, known as MAGE proteins, found on the surface of many cancers.
“Our results indicate that ChAdOx1/MVA P1A vaccination induces a high magnitude multifunctional response in mice, which has not been observed in previous studies,” the findings say.
“With these promising data, we will evaluate this cancer vaccine strategy in a clinical trial that will commence shortly,” the researchers said in the findings.
According to the experts, when the vaccine was tested in combination with existing anti-PD-1 immunotherapy treatments, higher reduction rates in tumor sizes and higher survival rates were observed in the mice.
Currently, Kenya is administering the HPV vaccine which works effectively in controlling cancer of the cervix in girls.
Currently, 60 percent of all eligible girls have received the first of the recommended two doses.
The vaccination provides protection against HPV types 16 and 18 which are responsible for approximately 70 percent of cervical cancer cases.
The vaccine also prevents boys from getting infected with the HPV types that can cause cancers of the mouth or throat, penis and anus as well as genital warts.
Each year about 3,200 Kenyan women die of cervical cancer related to HPV.
In men, WHO estimated that in 2018 there were more than 69,400 cases of cancer caused by HPV globally.
HPV-related cancers in men include penile, anal, oral and throat cancers. Complete figures for Kenya are not available.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health announced in February that boys in primary school would soon be eligible to receive the free HPV vaccine.
The HPV vaccine is currently only given to girls, aged nine to 14 years.
