Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise

Encouraging results in experiments on mice are raising hopes of an effective colon cancer vaccine, Reuters reports. Capitalizing on the fact that the intestines have their own immune system, researchers isolated a protein that occurs only in the gut to create a vaccine. In treated mice, an average of three tumors appeared in the lungs or liver. In unvaccinated mice, the number was 30.

"We think this identifies a novel class of vaccine candidate targets for tumors that originate and metastasize from mucosa, like colorectal cancer," wrote the lead researcher. (More colon cancer stories.)