Influenza vaccines cancer

The Human Genome Project has facilitated the mapping of genes, which has been instrumental to the development of vaccines to treat influenza, cervical cancer, and malaria, as well as the creation of new diagnostic tools for analysis. As a result, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States has become a multibillion-dollar industry. The generation of biosynthetic products has enhanced the lives of thousands of people through the development of treatments for many types of cancer, pneumonia, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, tuberculosis, neurological disorders, strokes, blood disorders, and many other diseases. 

The safety and immunogenicity of influenza vaccines in cancer patients have been evaluated. The safety of two doses of an adjuvanted HlNl vaccine in cancer patienfs had nof been thoroughly reviewed. An observational study of 20 children with solid tumours receiving two doses of either the AS03-adjuvanted or nonadjuvanted HlNl influenza vaccine concluded that seroprotective levels were achieved in 90% of all the children. They demonstrated that two doses of the vaccines, including the adjuvanted option, were safe and well tolerated [57 J. 

A large and rapidly growing number of clinical trials (phase I and phase II) evaluating the potential of DNA vaccines to treat and prevent a variety of human diseases are currently being performed ( http // clinicaltrials.gov) however, there is yet no licensed DNA vaccine product available for use in humans. The clinical trials include the treatment of various types of cancers (e.g., melanoma, breast, renal, lymphoma, prostate, and pancreas) and also the prevention and therapy of infectious diseases (e.g., HIV/ABDS, malaria, Hepatitis B vims, Influenza vims, and Dengue vims). So far, no principally adverse effects have been reported from these trials. The main challenge for the development of DNA vaccines for use in humans is to improve the rather weak potency. DNA vaccines are already commercially available for veterinary medicine for prevention of West Nile Vims infections in horses and Infectious Hematopoetic Necrosis Vims in Salmon. 

The most widely studied therapeutic proteins produced in plants include monoclonal antibodies for passive immunotherapy and antigens for use as oral vaccines [40]. Antibodies against dental caries, rheumatoid arthritis, cholera, E. coli diarrhea, malaria, certain cancers, Norwalk virus, HIV, rhinovirus, influenza, hepatitis B virus and herpes simplex virus have been produced in transgenic plants. However, the anti-Streptococcus mutans secretory antibody for the prevention of dental caries is the only plant-derived antibody currently in Phase II clinical trials [40]. Until recently, most antibodies were expressed in tobacco, potato, alfalfa, soybean, rice and wheat [9], It has been estimated that for every 170 tons of harvested tobacco, 100 tons represents harvested leaves. A single hectare could thus yield 50 kg of secretory IgA [3, 41]. Furthermore, it has been estimated that the cost of antibody production in plants is half that in transgenic animals and 20 times lower than in mammalian cell cul-... 

DNA vaccines Direct injection of nucleic acid contents HIV, malaria, influenza, hepatitis B virus, cancer... 

Thus, according to a November 1998 newsletter from Johns Hopkins University Medical School, in addition to the neurotoxin thimerosal, flu vaccines are found to contain the preservative formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent, and also aluminum (or its compounds), and can be associated with an increase in Alzheimer s disease. In the serious influenza epidemic occurring circa January 2000, a large percentage of the elderly who had had the flu shots also contracted the disease. For instance, a nursing home in Toronto reported 32 cases of the flu, out of which 31 had been vaccinated the month before. 

Preclinical Results and Clinical Applications. Both pDNA- and mRNA-based vaccinations were demonstrated to be efflcacious in animal models as prophylactic or therapeutic immunotherapies against tumors, infectious diseases, and allergy. Two pDNA-based vaccines are commercialized for veterinary use an anti-equine fever and an anti-infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) for farm-raised salmons. In humans, several formulations of nucleic acid vaccines are tested in clinical trials (see the actualized list of trials at www.clinicaltrials.gov). Although pDNA-based vaccine trials were reported in the context of antitumor, antivirus (HIV, influenza virus, HBV) and antiparasite Plasmodium falciparum) approaches, mRNA-based vaccines were up to now tested only as immunotherapies against cancer (review by Liu and Ulmer for pDNA [35] and Pascolo for mRNA [36]). 

Not only have encouraging results been obtained with models of vims infection such as the influenza vims system but they have also been reported in several cancer models The destmetion of cancer cells is often dependent on a vigorous CTL response and there is every reason to believe that efficient delivery of tumour-specific CTL epitopes could provide off the shelf cancer vaccines. A realisation of the central role that dendritic cells play in the efficient presentation of antigen to the immune system is nowhere more evident than with the development of anti-cancer vaccines and it is possible that successes in this area could provide a momentum which will benefit peptide vaccines in general. 

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