癌ワクチンが乳癌を縮小
News Release from Mayo Clinic on December 13, 2011.
(c) flickr & Mrinmay Bhattacharjee mrintech
新しい癌ワクチンが，マウスを使った実験で乳癌を劇的に縮小させた。このワクチンが標的とするのは，細胞が癌性になるとその表面に過剰に発現し，腫瘍の形成を促進するタンパク質MUC1だ。MUC1は卵巣癌，膵癌，多発性骨髄腫など他の多くの癌でもほとんどの患者に発現し，乳癌ではホルモン療法やトラスツズマブの効かない患者でも90%に認められるため，同ワクチンには広範囲の効果が期待される。高リスク患者のための予防療法として，再発の抑制に，また，手術で治療できない膵癌では標準的治療の併用療法として投与できると考えられる。（吉田素子）
Scientists Develop Vaccine That Successfully Attacks Breast Cancer in Mice
Vaccine may have implications for treating ovarian, colorectal and pancreatic cancer
Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and the University of Georgia (UGA) have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases -- including those that are resistant to common treatments.
The vaccine, described this week in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals a promising new strategy for treating cancers that share the same distinct carbohydrate signature, including ovarian and colorectal cancers.
When cells become cancerous, the sugars on their surface proteins undergo distinct changes that set them apart from healthy cells. For decades, scientists have tried to enable the immune system to recognize those differences to destroy cancer cells rather than normal cells. But since cancer cells originate within the body, the immune system generally doesn't recognize them as foreign and therefore doesn't mount an attack.
The researchers used unique mice developed by Sandra Gendler, Ph.D., the David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Professor of Therapeutics for Cancer Research at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and co-senior author on the study. Like humans, the mice develop tumors that overexpress a protein known as MUC1 on the surface of their cells. The tumor-associated MUC1 protein is adorned with a distinctive, shorter set of carbohydrates that set it apart from healthy cells.
［単語和訳］
Vaccine：ワクチン Successfully：成功裏に，うまく Breast Cancer：乳癌 Mice：マウス have implications for：～にとって重要である ovarian：卵巣の colorectal：結腸直腸の pancreatic cancer：膵癌
Researchers：研究者 dramatically：劇的に tumors：腫瘍 mimics：～と似た状態をつくる are resistant to：～に抵抗性の
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences：米国科学アカデミー紀要 strategy：方法 carbohydrate：糖鎖
cells：細胞 cancerous：癌性の surface proteins：表面タンパク質 set～apart from---：～を---から区別する immune system：免疫系 originate：（～から）起こる mount：（攻撃を）しかける
Ph.D.：博士 Therapeutics：治療学 co-senior author：共同主席著者 overexpress：～を過剰発現させる tumor-associated：腫瘍関連 is adorned with：～で修飾されている distinctive：特徴的な
