British researchers have developed a vaccine that targets prostate cancer tumors with an 80 percent success rate, reports the Daily Mail. The vaccine is a form of gene therapy and stimulates the immune system.
While laboratory tests with mice showed the vaccine had no serious side effects and left healthy tissue intact, human trials are still a few years away.
Researchers also believe that the vaccine would not only be effective against prostate cancer – even at an advanced stage – but other fatal cancers like breast, lung and pancreas as well.
Unlike other vaccines given as a preventive, this is administered after the disease is contracted.
Similar vaccines are also being developed for melanoma, one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer.