Vaccine May Help Prostate Cancer Victims Live Longer

A new vaccine about to start clinical trials in Indonesia may help prostate cancer victims live longer, an expert says.

Rainy Umbas, a professor of urology from University of Indonesia’s medical school, said the vaccine might slow cancer cell growth, limit decreases in hemoglobin and reduce pain and other physical upset.

Advanced prostate cancer victims who received the vaccine might thus live longer and better, he said.

Unlike other cancer vaccines, such as the human papilloma virus vaccine hat can prevent the cancer, the prostate cancer vaccine was developed as a medical therapy.

"We use the vaccine as a medical treatment for people with advanced prostate cancer. After taking and processing blood taken from the patient, we reinject the blood into the patient’s body after enriching it with substances that can suppress cancer cell growth,” Rainy said at a recent event hosted by the Indonesian Society of Urologic Oncology (ISUO).

By taking the vaccine, a patient with advanced cancer might live 18 to 24 months longer.

Before taking the vaccine, however, the patient would first have to undergo all available medical treatment, such as surgery and radiotherapy if the cancer is still at early stage, hormonal therapy if cancer cells have metastasized and chemotherapy if all those treatments were not effective.

"A patient should first undergo chemotherapy before taking the vaccine. This is the essential requirement,” he added.

The clinical trials in Indonesia will be part of a trial involving cancer patients in five other countries: China, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore.

Indonesia would start its trial in late 2011 or early 2012, Rainy said, adding that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine, which was developed by a US company, in 2010.

Aru Wisaksono Sudoyo, an oncologist at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta, said that chemotherapy might be the only way to stop cancer cell growth in advanced cases.

"If the cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body, the survival level decreases drastically. We should insist that chemotherapy is the only treatment available to cope with the disease,” he said.

Elderly patients with age-related diseases, however, cannot be treated with chemotherapy. “Palliative treatment such as hormonal treatment may be the only treatment, whereas such treatment is usually no longer effective for advanced cancer,” Aru said.

Rainy said that a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle that included routine exercise and limited smoking and alcohol consumption might reduce the chance of developing prostate cancer.

"Early detection by conducting a rectal exam and blood tests, followed by biopsy, if necessary, may also lower the risk of cancer,” said Rainy, adding that men should do such routine screening once a year after turning 50.