Developing vaccines to prevent cancers is the “ultimate aim”
Dr Linda Stannard, UCT/Science Photo Library
Hepatitis B virus vaccination has had the benefit of preventing
liver cancer |
Developing vaccines to prevent virus-associated cancers is the “ultimate aim” and an area of ongoing and long-term research, according to a Cancer
Research UK document, released by the charity this week.
The document discusses the mechanisms by which various infectious agents
appear to cause some types of cancer. The level of evidence required
to justify a direct causal association is also discussed. The authors
report that as many as one in 10 cancer cases in the UK and one in four
cases in the developing world are estimated to be linked to these
infections.
The report highlights certain vaccines that have a role in cancer prevention.
Hepatitis B vaccination has had the benefit of also preventing liver
cancer that can occur in individuals infected by the virus. More recently,
vaccines against particular strains of human papillomavirus — the
virus that can lead to cervical cancer — have been developed and
are being evaluated in clinical trials.
The success of these examples, the authors say, is driving the efforts
towards developing other vaccines — such as those against Epstein-Barr
virus and hepatitis C virus — to reduce the world wide burden of
virus-associated cancers.
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