Feb 14 (TNS): Researchers from Stanford University used stem cells to create a vaccine that has proven effective against breast, lung, and skin cancer in mice.
Humans may soon benefit from an anti-cancer shot, researchers say. To produce the vaccine, the scientists turned to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), or stem cells that are generated from adult cells. Over a decade ago, Japanese-based scientists showed for the first time that adult cells can be genetically reprogrammed to behave in the same way as pluripotent stem cells. These cells can take any shape or function, “specializing” into whatever type of cell the body needs. Embryonic stem cells are probably the most well-known type of pluripotent stem cell. As Wu and colleagues write, about a century ago, scientists found that immunizing animals with embryonic tissue caused them to reject tumors. Over time, this led scientists to believe that embryonic stem cells could be used as a sort of vaccine against cancer tumors. The main challenge of anti-cancer vaccines, however, is the limited number of antigens or foreign agents that elicit an immune response that the immune system can be exposed to at once. But, as Wu and his colleagues write, using iPSCs generated from the patient’s own genetic material has in theory a range of immunogenic advantages. They present immune T cells with a “more accurate and representative panel of [a] patient’s tumor immunogens. So, the researchers led by Joseph C. Wu, of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University in California set out to test this hypothesis in mice, and they published their results in the journal Cell Stem Cell. Wu and colleagues used the mice’s own cells to create the iPSCs, which they later vaccinated the rodents with. The vaccine targeted several tumor antigens at the same time. As the researchers explain, the main advantage of using whole iPSCs is that the vaccine no longer has to identify the perfect antigen to target in a specific kind of cancer.
