Expanded Autologous on Tumor Cell Vaccine Nursing Paper (Essay Sample)

Cancer Vaccine
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Expanded Autologous Tumor Cell Vaccine
Introduction and Background
Today, cancer is among the popular chronic diseases with high mortality rate worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and death globally. Roughly, 14 million new cases and 8.2 million deaths related to cancer were reported in 2012 (WHO 2015). According to reports by WHO, the number of new cases of cancer is projected to increase by approximately 70% in 2 decades. Cancer includes a faction of over 150 disease processes identified by uncontrolled growth and spreading of cells. The cancer cells are different from normal cells regarding size, growth rate, functioning, and structure. The uncontrolled growth enables cancer cells to attack adjacent structures and damage surrounding tissues and organs. This uncontrolled growth interferes with the normal functioning of one's vital organs and perhaps results in death. The common types of cancer that affect the male population include liver, prostate, lung, stomach, and colorectum cancer. The five common cancer types affecting the women population include stomach, cervix, breast, colorectum, and lung cancer. Medical research has made significant progress as regards to immunotherapy of cancer. However, an effective treatment method that can cure cancer is yet to be established. The current cancer treatment options only try to prolong the life of patients. Several treatment options are constantly evolving in the laboratory including engineered tissue cells. Tissue engineering has brought new hopes as regards to finding the cure of diseases such as cancer by generating functional cells in the laboratory. For instance, autologous tumor cell vaccine is the simplest tissue engineered product that can be used to treat cancer. Methods such as surgery face several limitations including relapse after treatment due to micrometastatic or minimal residual disease during surgery.
The three products selected for analysis in this paper include expanded autologous tumor cell vaccine (Provenge), Tecemotide (L-BLP25), and human tumor xenografts.
Autologous tumor cell vaccine (Provenge and OncoVAX): This vaccine involves the production of a therapeutic agent by separating tumor cells from a person and using these cells to create a vaccine formulation in vitro. Autologous tumor cell vaccines are products developed from tissue engineering that involves removal of tumor cells from a cancer patient and then irradiating the cells in the laboratory to prevent them from producing more tumor cells. The irradiated cells are the injected back into the body of the same cancer patient with the aim of combating the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells (Schirrmacher, Fournier and Schlag 2014, p.117). An example of autologous tumor cell vaccine is called Provenge, which works by motivating the patient's immune system to identify and damage prostate cancer cells. When using Provenge, the patient's immune cells are introduced to a protein that works as antigens associated with prostate cancer. In the process, the patient's immune cells are activated against prostate cancer cells that exhibit similar antigens to assist the immune system in fighting the cancer cells. Apparently, autologous tumor cell vaccines have passed all the developmental stages, and the method is currently under use a tissue engineered product for cancer treatment. In particular, clinical researchers completed successfully phase II of the trials of Provenge vaccine, and the vaccine was classified as efficient in treating of cancer. Several studies have confirmed and supported the efficiency of tissue engineered products including autologous tumor cell vaccines such as Provenge, OncoVAX, and GVAX. According to Schirrmacher, Fournier and Schlag (2014, p.117), tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes created through autologous tumor cell formation process have shown a positive effect on the prognosis of cancer patients. Whereas others have had a negative impact on the prognosis of cancer patients using this particular type of immunotherapy, considerable evidence has suggested improved long-term survival of the cancer patients treated with autologous tumor cell vaccines. The significance of this product is that it can target and combat the further growth of cancer cells and in doing so, it can strengthen the immunity of the patients hence elongating their lives. However, autologous tumor cell vaccines have several limitations including varying target among patients and the ability of cancer cells to mutate. That is, antigens differ across different patients making it difficult to be targeted. Additionally, such vaccines become ineffective in situations where the targeted tumor cells change.
Tecemotide (L-BLP25): Immunotherapy has provided Tecemotide as a likely method for offering patients with lung cancer improved response to treatment and overall tolerability to tumor cells in the lungs. Tecemotide or L-BLP25 is defined as a liposome-oriented vaccine involving synthetic 25-amino acid lipopeptide obtained from the tandem duplicable part of MUC1. The component also consists of nonspecific adjuvant monophosphoryl lipid A and additional three lipids. Monophosphoryl lipid A acts as an adjuvant that stimulates cellular immune responses. The liposome-based process used in Tecemotide immunotherapy seeks to enhance uptake of the antigen peptide using antigen-presenting cells. During the of the antigen peptide, lipopeptides are conveyed into the cellular space so that they are sent to class I MHC. Kao, Wurz, Schroder, Wolf, and DeGregorio (2013 p.1) described Tecemotide as an active immunotherapeutic vaccine that targets a cell surface glycoprotein known as mucin 1 (or MUC1). Several types of cancer including breast carcinoma, prostate, and non-small cell lung carcinoma tend to express MUC1 structure. Currently, the development of Tecemotide is ongoing, and it intended to develop a therapeutic intervention that can be used to treat a variety of cancer disease. The progress of its development is that Merck KGaA initiated 14 clinical trials as of July 2013 including 8 for immunotherapy of NSCLC, 2 for prostate cancer, 1 for myeloma, 1 for rectal cancer, 1 for a follow-up inquiry as regards to safety, and 1 for breast cancer (Kao, Wurz, Schroder, Wolf, and DeGregorio 2013, p.2). So far, evidence has indicated that Tecemotide could be effective in treating a variety of cancer disease considering the progress made in phases I, II and III. For instance, phase I clinical trial indicated that Tecemotide was safe and could be tolerated easily by advanced NSCLC patients. Additionally, phase II clinical trial of Tecemotide vaccine showed that it could lead to enhanced survival in patients with loco-regional Stage III disorder. Prostate cancer response has also been significantly positive during the trial of tecemotide. However, the development of tecemotide vaccine suffers from various limitations including costly preparation processes and the difficulty of scaling up the process.
Human Tumor Xenografts: For years, advancement in technology has assisted scientist to get a better understanding of the functioning of human malignancies. Scientists and clinical researchers can now comprehend molecular drivers of tumor in humans. However, human tumor xenografts have only remained a fairytale in line with immunotherapy of cancer. Accordingly,...