A vaccine from genetically engineered cells eliminates tumors in laboratory rats and may be ready for testing on aggressive brain cancers in humans by this summer.

Dr. Habib Fakhrai from the University of California said the vaccine has the ability to remove a biological disguise from cancer cells therefore allowing the bodies immune system to recognize and kill the tumor. "cancers of the brain, breast, lung, and prostate all secrete a substance called transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-B), which suppresses the immune system and protects the cancer". Said Dr. Fakhrai. "TGF-B cloaks the cancer cells so they are not recognized by the immune system."

To alert the immune system to the presence of cancer, the UCLA researchers developed a way to prevent tumor cells from making TGF-B.

Using rats with brain cancer, the scientists removed cancer cells and purified the tumor DNA. They then used this DNA to make a protein that blocks the genetic process that leads to secretion of TFG-B.

"We actually created molecules that attach to precursors of TFG-B and instructed them genetically to stop working", said Dr. Fakhrai. The new molecules were then used to inoculate a group of rats with cancer.

Another group of rats with cancer received only placebo shots. Among the rats receiving the anti-TGF-B vaccinations, 100 percent survived for the 12 weeks of the experiment, and the cancers were destroyed by the animals' immune system cells. The control rats all died swiftly. The technique has been approved for human experimentation by NIH and is now awaiting FDA approval.

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