A 1960s Twilight Zone episode talked about a vaccine against cancer, an idea that seemed fanciful at the time. But in recent years researchers have focused on the link between viruses and cancer, raising the prospect vaccines could prevent some tumors. Last week, such efforts leapt forward when Merck & Co. said its vaccine proved 100 percent effective against the main viruses that cause most cervical cancer.
The finding will be meaningful to billions of women only if politicians help make the vaccine widely available. In this country, medical professionals should encourage women, even young teenagers, to get the vaccine – and insurers and HMOs need to cover the expense for their policyholders.
Yet only 4,000 of the 270,000 cervical cancer deaths globally occur in this country. The U.S. toll is low because most American women get routine checkups, including Pap smears, which detect the cancer is its early stages. That’s not the case in developing nations where such exams are expensive or unavailable. The World Health Organization and other agencies thus should provide the vaccine in impoverished locations. Wide use of the vaccine could control cervical cancer much as public health efforts eradicated smallpox and, if less so, polio.
Researchers long have suspected a link between the immune system and cancer, with specific viruses high on the list of suspects. For instance, people who get cancer that starts in the liver almost always have had a previous bout of hepatitis B. Yet there’s a vaccine for hepatitis B – the only cancer vaccine now licensed by the Food and Drug Administration.
It may not be alone for long, though, and the cervical cancer vaccine isn’t the only other candidate. Several other vaccines to prevent or treat various cancers are undergoing large-scale testing in humans, reports the National Cancer Institute. However, these vaccines may not be available for about five years. For now, other prevention methods remain the best defense: Don’t smoke, eat a healthy diet and get regular checkups including colorectal screenings, prostate tests for men and Pap smears and mammograms for women.
Yes, humanity now has effective vaccines for two types of cancer, one already on the market and another on its way. No, we haven’t beamed up the Twilight Zone. We’re just lucky enough to live in the 21st century, an age of significant medical progress.
