Development of a simple, inexpensive therapeutic cancer vaccine
Dr Fahrer has published a hypothesis paper suggesting a new method of treating tumours, using an old and inexpensive preparation, that could be of considerable benefit to patients and their cancer management. (Fahrer 2012). The method involves a single injection of a strong immuno-stimulant directly into the tumour. The idea is that this will re-stimulate the patient's immune system to recognise and kill cancerous cells. Work in the laboratory is now underway to test this cancer immunotherapy. Promising results have been obtained in several mouse models of cancer. In addition, our collaborators at the University of Queensland have obtained complete remissions in pet dogs suffering from cancer. Work in the lab is now concentrating on: 1) defining the precise mechanism(s) of action of the treatment, with the aim of obtaining even higher response rates to our therapy. 2) Obtaining more safety and efficacy data in order to allow translation into human clinical trials. This therapy is simple and inexpensive to administer. It would be equally applicable to patients from first world and from developing countries.