Ovarian cancer vaccine on trial Julia Medew October 11, 2010 ....

Ovarian cancer vaccine on trial Julia Medew
October 11, 2010
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Cancer specialist Paul Mitchell and patient Nicole Abbatangelo who is taking part in trials of a world-first vaccine. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

MELBOURNE doctors are trialling a world-first vaccine to treat ovarian cancer, which affects more than 1000 Australian women each year.

A senior cancer specialist at the Austin Hospital, Paul Mitchell, said two Victorian patients recently started receiving the CVac vaccine as part of a study aiming to recruit 60 patients in the US and Australia.

He said the vaccine was designed to use the body's immune system to fight off the recurrence of cancer in women who had already been treated with chemotherapy - the standard treatment.

Advertisement: Story continues below ''Given our treatments don't cure many patients who are diagnosed with the disease in the late stages at the moment, we want to add to the list of options available,'' he said. ''We're really hoping this will delay the recurrence of cancer and prolong patients' lives.''

Associate Professor Mitchell said patients receiving the vaccine would have a special type of white blood cell skimmed from their blood.

The cells are then grown in the laboratory and exposed to the vaccine before being periodically injected back into the patient. He said earlier studies indicated the vaccine could delay the cancer's return in more than a fifth of patients with few side-effects compared to chemotherapy, which often caused hair loss, ulcers and nausea.

''It's early in development so there are always things that can come up, but we've been using this for some time and we have not seen any significant side effects,'' he said. ''It's a bit like receiving a flu vaccine.''

One of the women trialling the vaccine, Nicole Abbatangelo, 44, said she was pleased to be part of the trial after six rounds of chemotherapy and having a hysterectomy to remove her ovaries this year.

With a high chance of the cancer returning over the next 18 months, she said it felt good to be trying something that might enhance the quality and length of her life.

''Once you finish chemotherapy you're sort of left on your own to some degree with three-monthly check-ups, but now I feel like I have a team of doctors who are keeping a really close eye on me, which is good,'' she said.

The mother of three, who also works to connect disengaged youths with mentors, said she hoped her participation would help other people diagnosed with ovarian cancer in coming years.

''I have two daughters who now have an increased chance of getting ovarian cancer just because I have it, so I'm really up for anything that could help their situation if they happen to get it further down the track,'' she said. ''Knowing that I'm contributing to something that could help them makes a big difference for me.''

Each year, about 1200 Australian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Because so many diagnoses are made at a late stage, about 800 of the women will die from the disease.

Symptoms include persistent abdominal pain or pelvic pain, a noticeable increase in abdominal size or abdominal bloating, needing to rush to the toilet to urinate often or urgently and feeling full quickly or finding it difficult to eat.

The CVac vaccine has been developed at the Austin Hospital with Melbourne-based biotech company Prima Biomed.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ovarian-cancer-vaccine-on-trial-20101010-16e0i.html