ISLAMABAD- New research indicated that therapeutic cancer vaccines were used in combination with conventional chemotherapy with growing success. These vaccines stimulate the body's immune system to target and destroy cancer cells.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first cancer therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. At least 14 other cancer vaccine strategies are in Phase II or III clinical trials for metastatic melanoma, lung cancer, and lymphoma.

Jeffrey Schlom, a PhD from the National Cancer Institute, explained that a key advantage of cancer vaccines used in combination with chemotherapy was the extremely low level of toxicity. "The next frontier for vaccine therapy will be the use of vaccines in combination with certain chemotherapeutic agents, radiation, hormone therapy, and certain small molecule targeted therapies," states Dr. Schlom.

These emerging areas of cancer vaccine therapy were explored in detail in two accompanying research reports by Dr. Schlom's colleagues.