A leukemia vaccine has been successful enough in its first trials to warrant larger studies that will include hundreds of patients, researchers report.The vaccine prompted an immune system attack against the overproduced leukemic white blood cells in 20 of 33 people with different forms of the blood cancer, said study leader Dr. Jeffrey Molldrem, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.The most impressive results occurred in the four people with the form of the disease called acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), which affects about 12,000 Americans each year. Three of them had complete remissions that have persisted for several years, and the most delicate test available finds no trace of the disease in two patients, Molldrem said.The researchers presented their findings Dec. 6 at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in San Diego.
