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Vaccine against cancer - the hope of mankind
Last reviewed: 16.05.2018
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Experts have always argued that it is easier to take preventive measures, than to treat it later, so most researchers develop preventive drugs (vaccines) from various diseases. Doctors did not become an exception, and the development of such drugs is considered the most important direction of modern science.
Mikhail Aghajanyan, a professor at the University of California, also works on the development of preventive drugs against cancer.
Mikhail Aghajanyan, in his conversation with journalists, noted what difficulties might be encountered in creating preventive drugs.
First of all, any vaccination should be carried out before the disease begins to develop. In the world there are only two types of vaccines that are made after the disease has started to progress, all others are considered preventive measures.
At the moment, the creation of such a vaccine, which could be introduced to a healthy person and prevent the development of cancer seems almost unrealistic task, on the way to this there are many difficulties. It is for this reason that effective vaccines against cancer have not been created to date. There is one, in the basis of which dendritic cells and special antigens, which were introduced to patients already at the last stage, as a result, people's life could be prolonged for only a few months, which is extremely small, especially considering the cost of the drug (90 thousand dollars for 1 injection).
The company developing the vaccine was forced to suspend its work, as the drug did not live up to expectations.
The team of Mikhail Aghajanyan is working on the creation of preventive drugs based on a certain type of antigens, which are observed in the body at the stage of embryonic development and with cancer.
Such antigens were discovered relatively recently, by one American specialist, and studies have shown that they are capable of influencing cell growth. According to preliminary data, the drug based on such cells will be quite effective. Agadzhannia expressed his hope that by the end of this year clinical trials of the new drug could begin.
It is worth noting that the existing vaccine against cervical cancer is slightly different from oncological vaccines, the creation of which works scientists from different countries. According to experts, the drug protects not from the development of cervical cancer, but from a virus that provokes the development of a malignant tumor, but very few types of cancer that depend on viruses.
Mikhail Aghajanyan also participates in the development of Alzheimer's preventive drugs, he said, his team managed to achieve good results in this field. The main difficulty of this vaccine is that it should be done before the destructive processes in the brain began, which is why all previous attempts to create drugs to prevent Alzheimer's were unsuccessful.
The principle of the vaccine of the Aghajanyan research group is based on the activation of antibodies that remove amyloid proteins from the brain causing cognitive impairment and experts believe that the drug will show good results during clinical trials.