The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7253 p819
14 June 2003

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Meeting summaries  7 June   14 June

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American Society of Clinical Oncology (more)

Cancer vaccine shows promise

An enhanced vaccine that targets carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is safe and may have clinical benefit in some patients with advanced cancer, say researchers. The TRICOM vaccine uses either vaccinia or fowlpox virus to initiate an immune response against cancer cells that express CEA. The presence of three molecules — B7-1, LFA-3 and ICAM-1 — is intended to stimulate the immune response further. In 58 patients with recurrent cancer who received the vaccine, one showed a complete response and five showed decreasing CEA levels.

The Journal attended the 39th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Chicago, Illinois, from 31 May until 3 June, courtesy of Eli Lilly. It was attended by more than 25,000 cancer specialists