Prostate cancer vaccine performs well in early trial

An early-stage trial of an experimental prostate cancer vaccine demonstrated that it was safe and also generated an immune response among a large percentage of the volunteers in the study. A total of 32 men with metastatic prostate cancer were given one of three different dosages of the vaccine. More than half lived longer than expected and almost half doubled their expected survival rates. One survived six years.

"We found that 68 to 70 percent of the patients in the trial demonstrated immune responses to PSA," said Dr. David Lubaroff, director of urology research at the University of Iowa. "This was their last resort, and we were encouraged by the fact that we could detect any immune response in these patients."

The next step is to mount a Phase II trial that is designed to better track the efficacy of the vaccine.

- read the article from the Washington Post