Kidney cancer vaccine promising

LUBECK, Germany, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A tumor-based vaccine to reduce recurrence of kidney cancer and increase survival rates showed promise in final clinical trials, German researchers reported.

This week's edition of the British medical journal, The Lancet, reported researchers from the University of Lubeck Medical School studied 558 patients with a renal or kidney tumor who were scheduled for surgery to remove the affected kidney. Before surgery, some of the patients were given the renal tumor cell vaccine.

Data from 379 of the patients showed the five-year progression-free survival rates were 77 percent in the vaccine group and 68 percent in the control group that did not receive the vaccine.

The authors concluded the vaccine is effective for kidney cancer patients with tumors larger than 2.5 cm who have undergone surgery to remove all or part of the kidney.

There are about 12,000 renal cancer deaths each year in the United States.