A custom-made anti-tumor vaccine added to standard immunotherapy was twice as likely to shrink liver cancer as when a patient received immunotherapy alone, a new study shows.
All of the patients received the custom vaccine along with pembrolizumab , an immunotherapy drug that helps activate the immune system to attacktumor biopsy taken from each individual patient. Researchers analyzed the tumor to figure out which mutated genes are causing it, and then they crafted a personalized vaccine to target a patient's cancere system locate the cancer based on these genes, and then destroy it.
Researchers described the therapy as a “one-two punch,” as the immunotherapy drug activates the immune system and the vaccine teaches it to identify and kill a person's cancer. In the lab, researchers found evidence that immune cells created in response to patients' cancer had in fact traveled to the tumor and attacked cancer cells there.“The study provides evidence that a personalized cancer vaccine can enhance clinical responses to anti-PD-1 therapy,” said lead researcher Dr. Mark Yarchoan, an associate professor ofand were presented over the weekend at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in San Diego.
“A larger, randomized clinical trial will be needed to confirm this finding, but the results are incredibly exciting,” he said in a meeting news release.Understanding Cancer: Metastasis, Stages of Cancer, and More What really causes cancer? Get the facts about how cancer spreads, symptoms and signs, cancer stages, and treatment options for the most common types of cancers.
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