Avicine
Overview
AVICINE was developed by AVI Bio Pharma Inc.. It is a cancer vaccine which was created to cause a reaction within the tumor associated antigen, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).
The pathology of this vaccine will work by actively stimulating immunization amongst tumor cells, or tumor associated antigens. These can be the keys to unlock the cancer cells, making way for the therapeutic values of AVICINE.
Research behind the drug
This particular vaccine is a synthesized formulation of peptides developed to create an unstable environment for the hCG-producing cancer cells. By making them joined together with the diptheria toxoids, the AVICINE peptide formulation has been able to cause reaction in the ummune response to hCG which won’t interfere with related glycoprotein hormones.
Pregnancy
During pregnancy, women naturally generate the hCG hormone, leading scientists to believe it stimulates growth and protects the embryonic fetus from attack, therefore making the pregnancy succesful, as well as highlighting the role of hCG in its role working against cancer. In both Cancer and Pregnancy hCG :
- encourages rapid cell division
- musters development/reaction and tissue invasion
- promotes formulation in blood vessels
- Allows tumor or fetus to cancel rejection
Clinical Studies
AVICINE has shown that it has been effective in blocking fertility, the correlation to this study says that therefore it should also work in fighting cancer. These studies also note that the drug will help in patient survival.