A team of Mexican researchers is ready to start clinical trials on a vaccine to prevent the recurrence of different types of cancer. The experiment will be conducted in different cities in Mexico with the top cancer institution in the country and Latin America, National Oncology Institute, organizing the project.

The team leader for the experiment is Dr. Juan Pablo Márquez Manriquez, a member of the International Cancer Center in Sonora, Mexico and a clinical researcher at the University of Washington. Other members of the research team are also specialists from the University of Washington, the Cancer Research Center of Sonora and the National Oncology Institute, per Notimex as translated by CSHI.

Dr. Manriquez said in an interview at the first International Congress of Immuno-Oncology that their research started 14 years ago. Clinical trials involving 1,500 cancer patients from the U.S. and Mexico will start by January or February next year after federal authorities approve their protocol.

"By 2017, the first clinical protocol for several types of tumors, at least, five may begin. And in five years from there in 2022, it is expected that at least three or four vaccines for cancer prevention will be approved," Dr. Manriquez added.

According to a report by EFE via FOX News, the vaccine is not really a vaccine, but more of a "cocktail mix" of different vaccines that are specifically designed to combat different types of neoplasms at the same time. The vaccine will trigger the person's immune system into action, recognizing and eliminating cancerous cells after the conventional treatment.

The team has already synthesized four peptides in the past ten years that induce an immune response to cancerous cells. The first tests for the research were conducted on genetically modified mice that develop cancer at a particular time, and those who received the vaccine never developed colon, pancreatic or ovarian cancer.

The lead scientist also added that they conducted a pilot study in 2006 involving 104 cancer patients with only one participant dying in 2014, but due to a heart disease. "In 2006, we conducted a pilot study in Sonora on 25 patients with ovarian cancer, 25 with colon cancer, 25 with multiple myeloma and 25 with breast cancer. We included four patients with pancreatic cancer because there weren't many at the time," Dr. Manriquez said.

He also noted that their current research showed that their cocktail vaccine did not cause any auto-immune reaction, side effects or toxicity. Trials will be done in three phases to determine the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine with the number of participants increasing from the initial phase to its final stages.