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Gene Modified Allogeneic Tumor Cell Vaccine Active in NSCLC

Researchers from the Medical Research Center/Texas Oncology Professional Associates and Baylor University have reported that belagenpumatucel-L, a nonviral allogeneic tumor cell vaccine is well tolerated, produced clinical responses and may improve survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. The details of this phase II study appeared in the October 10, 2006, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology .

There have been many attempts to develop vaccine therapies for the treatment of cancer. However, at the present time there are no FDA approved vaccines for cancer therapy. Despite the difficulties of vaccine development, research continues in this field. There have been several candidate vaccines for the treatment o NSCLC that have been tested over the past several years (see related news).

The current study tested a vaccine made from four NSCLC cell lines. These cells lines were transvected with transforming growth factor beta-2 antisense. A total of 75 patients were entered into this study. Sixty-one patients had advanced stage (IIIB-IV) and 14 had early stage (II-IIIA) disease.

The partial response rate for advanced stage patients was 15%. Fifty-nine percent of patients of all patients had no progression after 16 weeks of treatment. A dose-related survival difference was demonstrated. These authors reported that advanced disease patients receiving the higher doses of vaccine had 1- and 2-year survivals of 68% and 52%, respectively. Patients receiving a low dose of vaccine had 1- and 2-year survivals of 39% and 20%, respectively. Responders were reported to have increased production of interferon gamma, interleukin-6 and antibody production. These authors also reported an acceptable safety profile for this vaccine. They also stated that this study supported the hypothesis that “inhibition of inhibiting factors to allow for immune recognition and effector cell activation in patients with advanced NSCLC.”

Comments: These are very impressive results measurable responses to vaccines are infrequent. These data suggest that this vaccine might be very effective in early stage disease.

Reference: Nemunaitis J, Dillman RO, Schwarzenberger PO, et al. Phase II study of belagenpumatucel-L, a transforming growth factor beta-2 antisense gene-modified allogeneic tumor cell vaccine in non-small-cell lung cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology . 2006;24:4721-4730.

Related News

NCI Announces New Phase I/II Study of Vaccine for NSCLC (10/9/2006)

Advexin® is a Promising Vaccine for NSCLC and Esophageal Cancer (04/27/2006)

Survival of Stage IIIB NSCLC Improved with L-BLP25 Vaccine (11/17/2004)

Progress in Development of Vaccines for NSCLC (7/19/2004)

Autologus GM-CSF Secreting Vaccine Has Activity in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (2/23/2004)

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These materials may discuss uses and dosages for therapeutic products that have not been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. All readers should verify all information and data before administering any drug, therapy or treatment discussed herein. Neither the editors nor the publisher accepts any responsibility for the accuracy of the information or consequences from the use or misuse of the information contained herein.