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First clinical trials against
cervical cancer
Developed at the Center for Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana
BY LILLIAM RIERA
—Granma International staff writer—
IN
2007, the clinical trials phase is set to begin for
the first Cuban therapeutic vaccine against cervical
cancer, associated with the most common of the human
papilloma virus (HPV-16), which has been developed
by specialists at the Center for Genetical
Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana.
This
form of cancer is the second highest cause of cancer
deaths amongst women throughout the world, although
in some developing countries it is the first. In
Cuba, there is a high incidence of the disease.
The
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common
sexually-transmitted disease and using condoms does
not necessarily offer one hundred percent
protection.
Isis
Torrens, a doctor of biological science and head of
the vaccines project against HPV at the CIGB, told
Granma International that the trials will
take place at the National Toxicology Center in
conjunction with the cervix pathology clinic at the
Clodomira Acosta gyno-obstetrics hospital in the
capital and around 10 or 12 women aged between 18
and 60 years from all the Cuban provinces will take
part.
The
specialist was one of the speakers on the second day
of the 2006 International Biotechnology Congress of
Havana.
The
project to develop the vaccine began in 2002 and
three years later, at the end of the pre-clinical
trials phase, results on animals (mice) show that
the results have been powerful, eliminating
already-established tumors, as well as demonstrating
that to date it is an innocuous substance, explained
Dr. Torrens.
There are other therapeutic vaccines against this
type of cancer already in the clinical trials stage
being processed around the world.
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