Cancer vaccine to go on trial

A cancer vaccine that could protect the entire population is being developed by Scottish scientists.

The radical drug uses the body's own immune system to protect the body against cancerous cells.

Current vaccines against cancer, which affects one in three Britons, are used only on people who already have the disease.

However, researchers at the Moredun Research Institute near Edinburgh say their new vaccine could be produced cheaply enough to be given to the entire population.

"It gives us the opportunity to make cancer vaccines cheaply and, hopefully, cancer vaccines that would work a lot better," said project leader Dr John March.

The researchers say trials of a vaccine against lung cancer in sheep are due to start shortly and human trials could start within a year or two.

The new development uses a bacterial virus which does no harm to humans but acts as a container to deliver DNA of cancerous cells into the human body.

"If we can vaccinate in advance, it will hopefully reduce the incidence of cancer even appearing," said Dr March. Cancer Research today welcomed the research but warned it was still at a very early stage.

Researchers also hope that if their cancer vaccine is a success, they could use it to develop vaccines for other diseases such as HIV and malaria.