A new vaccine for the treatment of people suffering from leukemia is soon to be tested on human patients for the very first time.

Reports confirm that scientists have managed to develop a medicine which is designed to prevent the cancer from recurring after chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant surgery. It has been shared that the treatment works by boosting a patient's own immune system.

Within the coming few months, the drug will be tested on human subjects at King's College London.

Researchers are hoping that the vaccine could be used to treat other forms of cancer too.

"This vaccine activates the body's own immune system against leukemia to prevent it from reoccurring. The treatment effectively tricks the immune system into thinking the leukemia cells are foreign cells even though they are the patient's own. The patient's immune system then destroys these cells", said Professor Farzin Farzaneh, professor of molecular medicine at King's College London.

The first test will be conducted on patients suffering from acute myeloid leukemia which is the most common form of the disease in adults.

It took a total of 20 years to develop the vaccine, and the effort was funded jointly by the Department of Health, the Leukaemia Research Fund and the Elimination of Leukaemia Fund.