VOA健康报道2023--Cancer Treatment Could Get a Vaccine

The next big development in cancer treatment could be a vaccine¹.

After years of limited success of vaccines² to treat cancer, scientists say research has made many advancements³. Many doctors predict more vaccines will be out in five years.

They are not traditional vaccines that prevent disease. Instead, they are shots to shrink tumors and stop the cancer from coming back. Targets for these experimental treatments include breast and lung cancer. There were also gains reported this year for the deadly skin cancer melanoma and for pancreatic cancer.

Dr. James Gulley helps lead a center at the U.S. National Cancer Institute that develops immune treatments, including cancer treatment vaccines. "We're getting something to work. Now we need to get it to work better," he said.

More than ever, scientists understand how cancer hides from the body's immune system. Cancer vaccines, like other immune system treatments, strengthen the immune system to find and kill cancer cells. Some new cancer vaccines use mRNA, which was developed for cancer but was first used for COVID-19 vaccines.

For a vaccine to work, it needs to teach the immune system's T cells to recognize cancer as dangerous, said Dr. Nora Disis. She is with University of Washington Medicine's Cancer Vaccine Institute in Seattle. Once trained, T cells can travel anywhere in the body to hunt down danger, she said.

Patient volunteers are very important to the research.

Fifty-year-old Kathleen Jade⁵ learned she had breast cancer in late February. She waited on a hospital bed for her third dose of an experimental vaccine. She is getting the vaccine to see if it will shrink her tumor⁴ before surgery.

"Even if that chance is a little bit, I felt like it's worth it," Jade said.

Progress on treatment vaccines has been difficult. The first such vaccine, Provenge, was approved in the U.S. in 2010 to treat prostate cancer. It requires processing a patient's own immune cells in a lab and returning them through the veins⁶. There are also treatment vaccines for early bladder cancer and advanced melanoma.

Early cancer vaccine research had difficulties. The cancer would outfight patients' weak immune systems, said Olja Finn. She is a vaccine researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

"All of these trials that failed allowed us to learn so much," Finn said.

Finn's research is now centered on patients with whose cancers were caught early. That is because the experimental vaccines did not help with more advanced patients. Finn's group is planning a vaccine study in women with a low-risk form of breast cancer.

More vaccines that prevent cancer may be coming. Decades-old hepatitis B vaccines prevent liver cancer. HPV vaccines, introduced in 2006, prevent cervical cancer.

People with the condition Lynch syndrome⁷ have a 60 percent to 80 percent lifetime risk of developing cancer. Getting them to take part in cancer vaccine trials has been easy, said Dr. Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He is leading two government-supported studies on vaccines for Lynch-related cancers.

Drug producers Moderna and Merck are developing a personalized mRNA vaccine for patients with melanoma. The vaccines are designed for each patient, based on the many differences in their cancer tissue. A personalized vaccine can train the immune system to hunt for the cancer's mutation⁸ and kill those cells.

The vaccines under development at the University of Washington are designed to work for many patients. Tests are ongoing⁹ in early and advanced breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer. Some results may come as soon as next year.

Jamie Crase was one of the first people to receive the ovarian cancer vaccine. She got the vaccine during a safety study 11 years ago. Crase was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer at the age of 34. She thought she would die young. Now she is 50, with no sign of cancer.

She does not know for sure if the vaccine helped. But, she said, "I'm still here."

Words in This Story

advance — n. beyond the basic level

dose — n. the amount of a medicine, drug, or vitamin that is taken at one time

tissue — n. a piece of soft and very thin paper that is used especially for cleaning

mutation — n. a change in the genes of a plant or animal that causes physical characteristics that are different from what is normal

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 advancements   

n.（级别的）晋升( advancement的名词复数 )；前进；进展；促进

参考例句：

• Today, the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements. 当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Great advancements in drought prediction have been made in recent years. 近年来，人们对干旱灾害的预报研究取得了长足的进步。 来自互联网

4 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

5 jade   

n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠

参考例句：

• The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
• He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。

6 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

8 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

9 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。