London: Scientists are working on a lung cancer vaccine that research suggests will be effective in preventing up to 90 percent of cases.
The vaccine will give the immune system the ability to target the early signs of the disease and be given to people who are at high risk of developing the disease.
Lung cancer cells look different from normal cells because of proteins called neoantigens. New antigens appear on the surface of cells due to cancer-causing changes in the DNA of cells.
The Lungvax vaccine will contain a DNA component that will enable the immune system to recognize new antigens in abnormal lung cells. This will later activate the immune system to eliminate these cells and prevent lung cancer.
Professor Tim Elt, the lead researcher of the study from the University of Oxford, said that cancer is a disease of our body and it is difficult for the immune system to distinguish between normal cells and cancerous cells. Being able to attack it is one of the major problems in current cancer research.
The vaccine, called Lingvax, has been jointly developed by the University of Oxford, The Francis Crick Institute and University College London. Experts have called this vaccine an important opportunity in the fight against the deadly disease.
(function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3&appId=770767426360150”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.7”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));