4 replies to this topic

[GerryL]

Hello,

If you're interested to read someone's comments from their experience on the vaccine trial visit http://www.cmlsupport.org.uk/forum/1

[random]

This is the vaccine that should cure CML?

http://www.cmlsupport.org.uk/node/7253

What 66% the necessary gene means? This vaccine is not for all CMLers?

Hi Bryan
Thought of you on the 4th Jan. Pleased to hear the vaccination programme is going OK and will keep my fingers crossed for you that they are having the desired effect. I guess you'll get some idea soon when they do the hand biopsy thing.
I have just discovered that I am one of the 66% of the population without the necessary gene. This obviously means no vaccines for me, but I have agreed to act as "control" so it will be back and forth to the hospital for bloodletting but no BMB and no leukephrensis. Not too sure how I feel - disappointed that I don't get the opportunity to try this new treatment and relieved at the same time that I'm not stepping off the cliff into unknown territory - although you did much to allay my fears with your posts on this site. Thank you so much for that - also they may encourage others reading this to volunteer for the trial.
Do keep us all posted 
With much luck for successful results,
best wishes
Chrissie

[tiouki]

I may be completely wrong but we all don't have the same allele of BCR-ABL gene. You may have heard of the different subtypes like a2b3 or a2b2 (the most commons) iirc.

It is possible that the vaccine has been designed to make the immune system to focus on one of these alleles, and it would be ineffective against the other ones.

Just an hypothesis I'll look for it

EDIT : I am totally wrong (hehe ) : "HLA 2+ gene (which we were told most caucasians will have in their genetic make up)"

Pierre

[random]

I'm not sure. Maybe Trey will talk about this

[Trey]

HLA-A2 is one of the top 10 HLAs (WBC cell surface identification markers) used in marrow transplant matching.  When someone says they have a 9 out of 10 match as a transplant donor, they are talking about these HLAs.  HLA-A2 is one of the more common HLAs in the world population, but not all have it.  The leukemia vaccine trial being tested only works for HLA-A2 positive people because the vaccine targets HLA-A2 in teaching T-Cells to attack leukemic cells by enabling the T-Cells to see the leukemic cells as "different", mainly that their WT-1 and/or PR1 on the WBC surface is a different size and shape than for normal cells.  T-Cells normally ignore leukemic cells since they look "close enough" to normal cells.  The key is to "give the T-Cells glasses so they can see better" (poor analogy) and determine that these leukemic cells are not a real match to normal cells for determining whether they belong inside the body.  Whether it can be changed to target other than HLA-A2 in the future is unknown. 

For more information see my CML blog under "Vaccine"

http://treyscml.blogspot.com/