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Team develops cancer vaccine Researchers create specific medicine for each individual SUPRIYA SRIDHAR News Reporter @SupriyaSridhar4
OU researchers are developing a personalized melanoma vaccine that can be tailored to a patient’s specific cancer mutation to better eliminate tumors. Personalized cancer vaccines of this sort may become a reality within only five years, said team leader William H. Hildebrand. Hildebrand’s team includes doctorates from Switzerland and Iran, a p o st d o c t o ra l stu d e nt
at Hildebrand’s lab and Andrea Patterson, a Health Sciences Center doctoral candidate. Patterson, whose dissertation project is about the use of immunotherapies to treat ovarian cancer, discussed the importance of personalization in the quest for cancer treatment. “Everyone’s cancer is different because you have your own different set of mutations in your cancer,” Patterson said. “You have your own different immune system which is going to shape what your cancer turns into, so I think the personalized approach is going to be really, really pivotal.” “For a number of years people have realized that
everybody’s cancer is quite distinct,” Hildebrand said. Fifteen years ago, Hildebrand started Pure Proteins, a company partially owned by OU to help develop cancer therapies. Two years ago, Pure Proteins partnered with Washington University at St. Louis, which was conducting research about targeting cancer through the body’s immune response. The two teams comp l e m e nt e d e a c h o t h e r, Hildebrand said. Researchers from Wa s h i ng to n Un i ve rsi t y would find cancer mutations while Hildebrand’s team would target the mutations’ immune responses. “We came to the same
point independently to where we could combine our efforts to develop personalized cancer vaccines for melanoma,” Hildebrand said. Each of the study’s three participants has had a customized cancer vaccine made, and each subject’s tu m o r s re g re s s e d a f t e r treatment, Hildebrand said. In the future the same techniques can be used to develop treatments for other cancers besides melanoma. SEE CURE PAGE 2
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William H. Hildebrand, faculty at OU Health Sciences Center, poses for a photo for his OU faculty profile. Hildebrand and a team of researchers have been working on a personalized melanoma vaccine that shrinks the size of tumors by looking at individual mutations of the patient’s cancer cells.
Splashing down the
South Oval MORE RAIN IS FORECASTED FOR TODAY. GO TO PAGE 6 FOR RAINY DAY ADVICE.
TONY RAGLE/THE DAILY
Education freshman Sneha Sibimon sloshes through the water in her rainboots while protected overhead by an umbrella. Campus sidewalks flooded after storms moved through campus Monday.
OWS to hold three forums OU Cousins to host
end-of-semester BBQ
Agency to educate public on water conservation, reuse
Event to include mechanical bull, live country band
JESSE POUND News Reporter @jesserpound
In the face of a continuing drought, the Oklahoma Water Survey is holding three educational outreach forums on how to better reuse and conserve water within the next few months. The first of the forums, held on April 23, focused on different techniques for water reuse, according to the event’s agenda. The next forum will take place on May 14 and will focus on water treatment options and examine different case
WEATHER Rainy with a high of 63, low of 42. Updates: @AndrewGortonWX
GLORIA NOBLE L&A Reporter @glorianoble_
TONY RAGLE/THE DAILY
Dr. Robert Puls poses in his office in the Five Partners research building. Puls will lead three educational forums about water conservation conservation in the National Weather Center.
studies, said Robert Puls, the College of Atmospheric and director of the Oklahoma Geographic Sciences. Water Survey and an OU SEE WATER PAGE 2 associate professor in the
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OU Cousins will host a barbecue Tuesday for members, students and faculty alike to relax before the semester ends. Andrew Tierney, OU Cousins Advisory Board member, said the barbecue will have a live country band, a mechanical bull and a dance floor for attendees to enjoy.
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Tierney said the event is open to anyone that would like to go and is a good opportunity for students to see whether they are interested in joining the organization. Tierney said that, through OU Cousins, he has made friends with students from all across the globe over the last three years. “I am excited to see this diverse group of OU students come together and have an enjoyable evening,” Tierney said. “Many of my closest friends have been through OU Cousins over the past three years and I am thankful to have the opportunity to help host this
end of the year celebratory event.” The barbecue will take place tomor row at 5:30 p.m. at the Whinery Ranch. Attendees can get free transportation to the event at the Lloyd Noble Center and at Couch Restaurants. Buses load at 5 p.m. and leave at 5:15 p.m. Gloria Noble glorianoble@ou.edu
OU YAK OF THE DAY “Oh, you got Baptized today?” “Where? OU’s sidewalk?”
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