5T4
From Kidney Cancer Resource
Contents |
Overview
A hunt has been under way to find the subtle differences between cancer and normal cells. If a protein could be identified that was made only on the surface of a cancer cell, it could be used as the basis of a vaccine to train the body to attack the diseased cells.
One such protein was identified a few years ago by Prof Peter Stern, of the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester. He became interested in 5T4, a protein thought to be used by the foetus to plumb into the mother's womb, and was surprised to find that cancer cells reactivate this embryonic genetic programming to help spread around the body.
Studies reveal that 5T4 features in many solid cancers, such as colon cancer, and the protein is linked with patients who have a gloomy prognosis. This remarkable finding has now been turned against cancer. In one approach, the company Active Biotech, Lund, has made an antibody for 5T4, a protein that recognises this molecule, and hitched it to a second molecule, one made by bacteria, which is able to trigger a huge immune response.
Articles
Telegraph (KC) 08-Oct-05
- The Search for Vaccine for Kidney Cancer
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