Anti-Diabetic Drug May Boost Cancer Vaccines

Researchers have found that a common drug used by diabetics could make cancer vaccines more effective.

The anti-diabetic drug metformin made an experimental vaccine work better by boosting numbers of cancer fighting T-cells, they discovered. Specialized T-cells and B-cells have immunological memory: they protect the body against diseases it has already encountered after a vaccination or infection.

So by boosting T-cell production, the vaccine allowed more cells with immune memory to be available to fight off the tumor that might occur later, said the University of Pennsylvania school of Medicine in a statement. Its researchers, working with Canada’s McGill University, found that the performance of the experimental vaccine was enhanced in mice.

"We serendipitously discovered that the metabolizing, or burning of fatty acids by T-cells following the peak of infection is critical to establishing memory in those T-cells," explained senior author Choi Yongwon, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

"As a consequence, we used the widely prescribed anti-diabetic drug metformin, which is known to operate on fatty-acid metabolism, to enhance this process." He added: "These findings were unanticipated, but are potentially extremely important and could revolutionalize current strategies for both therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines."

Prophylactic vaccines are designed to prevent diseases from developing in healthy people. Therapeutic vaccines are meant to treat illnesses that have already occurred. The findings were released in an online publication of the journal, Nature.

Liver and cervical cancers can, to a large extent, be prevented with the use of preventive vaccines, and researchers around the world are working to create therapeutic vaccines to treat numerous types of cancer, including those of the breast, lung and prostate.

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