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Academia Sinica team may be close to cancer vaccine

Researchers at Academia Sinica have discovered that the presence of hexasaccharide Globo H and its precursor, Gb5, in cancer stem cells could help scientists develop a vaccine for breast cancer.

A news release posted on the Academia Sinica Web site said Globo H has been used as a vehicle in developing an immunotherapeutic vaccine for breast cancer and has successfully passed phase-one clinical trials in the US.

Led by Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), a team of researchers conducted a series of tests to see if the breast cancer vaccine could also target the cancer stem cells.

Since 2003, researchers around the world have been looking for a cure for breast cancer by targeting cancer stem cells, which possess the ability of stem cells to multiply and differentiate into their progenitors, display resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and could be the root cause for relapse and metastasis of cancerous tumors.

The team’s innovative approach has proven quite successful.

Using flow cytometry to examine tumor tissue obtained from 53 breast cancer patients at the Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei, the researchers found that both Globo H and Gb5 can be found in the breast cancer stem cells.

The results of the study showed that in all the tests, Globo H was 61 percent positive on regular breast cancer cells and 20 percent positive on breast cancer stem cells, while Gb5 was 77.5 percent positive on regular breast cancer cells and 62.5 percent on breast cancer stem cells.

“The team is thrilled by the results, which suggest that the Globo H vaccine will not only target the cancer cells, but also the cancer stem cells, in a one-for-all raid,” the news release said. “Researchers are particularly excited about the discovery of Gb5 in cancer cells, since the results shows that Gb5 is even more easily spotted on both regular breast cancer cells and stem cells, indicating that Gb5 may be another candidate for cancer therapeutics study.”

The results of the study were published in the online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
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