DEVELOPERS TO START TESTING 1ST VACCINE FOR PROSTATE CANCER

Developers of the first vaccine for prostate cancer plan to begin testing within a month, opening up an entirely new approach to treating a malignancy that kills 40,400 American men annually.

Prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cancer killer of American men. There is no effective therapy once the tumor has spread beyond the prostate gland.Many doctors believe the best hope for a cure is to cut out the prostate as soon as a blood test reveals it is cancerous. However, the surgery is controversial, since doctors can't be certain beforehand whether the cancer is still confined to the prostate. Thirty percent to 40 percent of patients discover the cancer has spread, despite the painful operation.

The new treatment would be given to these men after the operation to prompt their immune systems to hunt down cancer cells throughout their bodies.

"We are trying to prevent the cancer from coming back," said Dr. Jonathan W. Simons of Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore.

The treatment is called a vaccine because it manipulates the body's own natural disease fighters to combat an illness. Unlike most vaccines, which are given to prevent sickness from occurring, this one is intended for use after a disease is already established.

Similar vaccine approaches are already being tested in a variety of other cancers, including melanoma, the deadly form of skin cancer, and kidney cancer. Simons described his method Sunday at a conference sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

"This is the first gene therapy approach for prostate cancer," said Dr. Harmon Eyre, the Cancer Society's research chief.

Simons said his team will give the vaccine to three patients within about four weeks. In all, eight men will get the treatment in an initial test of its safety, and 30 to 40 more will receive it as doctors assess its effectiveness.

About 100,000 American men had their prostate glands removed last year for cancer. Simons said that if the treatment proves useful, doctors may routinely give the vaccine to about half of all such patients.