Nov 20, 2013 02:09 PM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

An innovative vaccine that could combat a deadly cancer is underway.

Loyola University Medical Center is setting up a clinical trial for an experimental vaccine that trains a patient's immune system to fight melanoma, a dangerous type of skin cancer.

"This clinical trial is a unique attempt to manipulate a person's own immune system to attack their cancer in a more effective and specific manner," Joseph Clark, one of the principal investigators of the trial, said in a statement.

The process involves removing a batch of the immune system's killer T cells, a type of white blood cells that help the body fight diseases or harmful substances, from the patient and modifying them in a lab. Two genes are inserted into the extracted cells so that they can recognize tumor cells as abnormal.

The patient undergoes high-dose chemotherapy to kill most of the remaining T cells, to make room for the genetically modified T cells when they are put back in the patient. The modified T cells, it is hoped, will recognize the tumor cells as abnormal and then attack and kill them.

According to a press release, the purpose of the trial is to determine whether the vaccine is safe and the optimum dose for an effective treatment.

"Our clinical trial is designed for patients who have no other options," Clark said.

In the trial, four doses will be tested, with the highest does consisting of 5 billion genetically modified T cells. If the trial demonstrates the treatment is safe, then scientists will proceed to the second part of the trial, which will determine if the treatment is effective.

Many landmarks in science have been made regarding how to treat deadly cancers like Melanoma.

One study found that melanoma cells treated with resveratrol, a compound found in grape skins and red wine, are more acceptable to radiation compared to cells that were not treated with the naturally occurring compound.

Another study found eating broccoli could protect the skin from the deadly cancer. Melanoma is the sixth-most-common cancer in Americans. Incidence is rising noticeably; about 1 in 50 people will be diagnosed with melanoma, in the 1960s, it was 1 in 600.

"This is a terrible, devastating disease," Clark said. "It starts on the skin and can spread to just about anywhere in the body. We need better treatments."

The clinical trial is open to patients with metastatic melanoma who are no longer responding to standard therapy.

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