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The Battalion
Scientists able to lessen cancer
returns with dead cell vaccine
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers using the dis
eased cells of melanoma patients have developed a
vaccine that they say dramatically reduces the recur
rence of the deadliest form of skin cancer.
The method also could be used to develop vaccines
for other forms of cancer.
The researchers used the vaccine on high-risk pa
tients with advanced melanoma. Even after surgery,
most of these patients develop additional tumors and
die.
People with the advance form of melanoma repre
sent a small fraction of those with the disease, which
is diagnosed in 3 2,000 Americans annually.
Dr. David Berd of Thomas Jefferson University in
Philadelphia said his team treated the patients with a
vaccine made from their own cancer cells and another
chemical to stimulate the immune system.
After three years, 70 percent of those vaccinated
remained cancer-free, compared with 20 percent in
patients treated with surgery alone, Berd told the
American Association of Cancer Research on Monday.
“There is no reason why it’s not applicable to other
cancers,” Berd said. “A great deal of this work has
been concentrated in melanoma merely for tradition.”
Berd said he believed anti-melanoma immunizations
for high-risk patients could be available within five years
from now, if scientists can syndiesize the vaccine.
Dr. Joseph Bertino, head of pharmacology at the
J.R. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New
York, said other anti-cancer vaccines are being tried,
but the Jefferson results are the most striking yet.
He said he was particularly excited that the re
searchers were closing in on particular peptides, mol
ecules that trigger the body’s anti-tumor defenses.
He said he would like to see longer-term studies,
but agreed that if the results hold up, they could help
develop vaccines for other forms of cancer as well.
Berd agreed the peptides are the key.
“Our advantage at Jefferson is that we already
know our immunization is effective, so the peptides
we pull off the cells are much more likely to be clini
cally meaningful,” he said.
The idea of coupling cancer cells and immune
stimulators is not new. But previous vaccines have not
been as successful in getting the body to distinguish
between cancerous and healthy cells.
The vaccine now must be made from the victim’s
own tumor cells, requiring a large tumor to produce
it, Berd said.
But if laboratory scientists can identify the peptides
that trigger the anti-tumor immune response in the
vaccine, they can be synthesized to make a more easi
ly reproducible vaccine.
The three-year study at Jefferson involved 47 pa
tients who had malignant melanoma that had spread
to regional lymph nodes. They underwent surgery to
remove the tumors, but such treatments usually fail
because cancer cells remain in the body.
Audit finds inefficiencies on prison farms
It’s registration time
iPililililil
The Associated Press
AMARILLO — Farm operations of
the Texas prison system lost $7 mil
lion in fiscal 1992, according to a re
port by State Comptroller John Sharp.
But prison board member Jerry
Hodge of Amarillo says auditors failed
to take into consideration the savings
gained when inmates grow their own
food.
Sharp’s report on the Texas De
partment of Criminal Justice, released
last week, included a look at the
state’s 30 prison agricultural opera
tions on more than 140,000 acres.
Farms and food processing facili
ties at prisons aren t as efficient as
TDCJ has depicted, according to the
Sharp report.
‘ In fiscal 1992, the agency’s agri
culture operations actually lost $7
million, although they reported to the
(prison) board a net profit of $5.6
million,” he said.
Auditors found inefficient ac
counting methods. Sharp said. And
overhead costs for salaries, farm
shops, the cannery and a packing
plant were not counted against the
agricultural operations, the report
said.
Moreover, Sharp’s audit said the
prison system sells its produce back to
itself at prices higher than supermar
ket costs. Hamburger bought from
the agriculture division for $1.10 per
pound, for instance, could have been
purchased from commercial suppliers
for 77 cents per pound, accoraing to
the report.
“If food service had purchased all
the ground beef supplied by the pack
ing plant in fiscal 1993 (2.2 million
pounds) at the open-market rate ... it
would have saved $730,000,” the re
port said. “Clearly, the cows are not
the only ones getting trimmed.”
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Rufus Edwards, a senior construction science and
major, picks up the new class schedule books in also
Heaton Hall Monday afternoon for the summer tion
la;
fall semesters. Th
can be obtained in the
begins at 6 a.m. Monday
schedule boo*
’avilion. Registra
CLINIQUE FREE GIFT
ft’s Clinique week and we’ve gone Above and Beyond your expectations
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Dillard’s
Clinton uses m
tool to protect
scarce animals
The* Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President u
ton ordered unprecedented sine
against Taiwan for trafficking in el
dangered tiger and rhinoceros pr
but he spared China from sin
sanctions.
The action announced Mom
marked the first time the Uni
States has used trade sanctions as 1
weapon for protecting endangert
species or the environment. It also
tne first time sanctions have bee
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used against Taiwan for any reason
Clinton, in a letter to Hoas
Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., £
he directed on Frida)' that all will!
imports be barred from Taiwan,
step that affects less than 0.1 perce
of Taiwan’s $25 billion wordi of a
ports to the United States.
Clinton said he would recoup
the sanctions if Taiwan passes nece
sary legislation and steps up enforce
merit. “The world must know tin
the United States will take strong ac
tions to protect the Earth’s nattri!
heritage,’ Clinton said.
He credited China with
posters and other media to discoE
age the trade, with increasing
forcement and by destroying so®
stockpiles of rhinoceros hornsd
tiger bones.
Clinton said that although
sanctions would be imposed agr
China now, more progress is needs
there and its case would be renews
in December.
Tiger bones and rhinoceros
are highly valued and sold primait'
as ingredients for traditional medi
cines in Asia.
By Mary
The Batt
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ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEW
Wednesday, April 20,1994
By Mel
IhfLBa
SHOP DILLARD’S MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 10:00 - 9:00; SUNDAY 12:00 - 6:00; DILLARD’S AND ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS WELCOME
Sign up in the Student Financial
Aid Dept, in Room 219
of the Pavilion