Lymphoma vaccine shows promise

Len Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer Society’s deputy chief medical officer, stated, “After 30-plus years of trying to find something that works with cancer vaccines, here we find the first glimmer of hope.”

The trial
For the clinical trial, researchers studied 76 patients with follicular lymphoma. The patients had been in remission for a minimum of six months after receiving chemotherapy.

The patients were grouped in two, with 41 receiving a placebo while the rest received the vaccine, which took almost three months to be developed. All the patients were given five injections over the period of six months.

Positive response
The patient’s response to the vaccine was monitored for almost five years and it was observed that those who received the lymphoma vaccine had an overall survival of 17.6 months compared to only 12.8 months for those who received the placebo.

Also, 22 percent of those who got the vaccine experienced shrinkage in their tumors compared to only 9.7 percent in the control group.

The patients who received the vaccine also had 44 months before their cancer relapsed compared to only 31 months for those in the control.

The development of this vaccine could prove to be a very significant finding for cancer treatment. According to Stephen Schuster, author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, “We’re on the verge of having therapeutic vaccination for cancer become a reality in the next five years.”

A patient-specific vaccine
The lymphoma vaccine is different from other types of cancer treatment in that it is designed specifically for the patient.

Dr. Louis Weiner, director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Georgetown, said, “The novelty of the vaccines is that they were individualized to each patient, and that they were directed against a cancer-specific target. Many vaccines are directed against cancer-associated targets and always run the risk of damage to normal cells."

Another possible cancer vaccine
Aside from a vaccine for lymphoma, another vaccine has been showing positive results. A vaccine for advanced melanoma is now on its phase III trial, showing the first signs of benefit for melanoma patients.