U.S.-India scientists use tobacco to develop anti-cancer vaccines

is the killer ofhealthin many people's minds, scientists in the United States and India are working on a new vaccine using tobacco to combat cervical cancer, the "second killer" that harms the healthwomenThe new vaccine will be a boon for cervical cancer patients in developing countries such as IndiaThe new tobacco-based vaccine, produced by tobacco, is very similar to the world's first cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, launched last year by Merck, and can be used to stop the spread of the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancerBennet Jensen and Jin Xinyi, who have been involved in the development of Gardasil, are currently working on the new vaccineIn the development of a new vaccine, researchers first need to produce the main component of the vaccine: a protein called "L-2" in the human papillomavirusThe protein encourages the body to produce antibodies to fight at least 13 types of papillomavirus known to cause cervical cancerIt differs from the protein used to make the vaccine Gardasil, which fights only two viruses that cause cervical cancerTo get the vaccine, the researchers first created an artificial gene that produces the "L-2" protein in tobaccoThe gene was then implanted into the tobacco virus used to infect tobacco plants and gradually "grown" into a low-cost vaccineAfter 6 to 10 days, the researchers began to gradually separate useful ingredients from tobacco until they were refined to produce l-2 pure proteinsKenneth Palmer, a researcher at the, says the new vaccine, which is "long" in tobacco, has begun to be tested on dogsFive test dogs were injected with the new vaccine, producing antibodies against multiple papillomaviruses He expects the first phase of human clinical trials of the vaccine to begin in the United States by the end of 2008 The researchers plan to first use the vaccine in the treatment of patients with advanced cervical cancer to test the vaccine's effectiveness One of the new vaccine researchers, Indian doctor Parsa Basu, said they were then preparing for human clinical trials in India India adds 120,000 new cervical cancer patients each year, 80 per cent of whom are terminally ill with cancer and cannocisted If the new vaccine works in patients with advanced cancers, it will reduce the suffering of many patients and their families The new vaccine
, which is still in the research stage, is cheap, costing just $3 for three doses in a row, a far cry from the $360 price tag for the equivalent dose of the Gardasil vaccine Such low prices will undoubtedly be a boon for cervical cancer patients in developing countries such as India Many developing countries face many medical problems Cancer patients often do not receive timely treatment due to poverty, lack of formal examinations and medical services, resulting in delays and premature death " I've seen people struggle to stay healthy, they're not even getting the most basic medical care, let alone cancer," Palmer told The Courier-Mail "
cervical cancer is one of the of malignant tumors in gynaecology, and is known as the "second killer" of health of women , with the incidence rate second only to breast cancer About 200,000 women worldwide die of cervical cancer each year (Yu Jie)