Four-fold increase in the effectiveness of glioblastoma treatment
Vaccine against incurable brain cancer has extended the life of patients four times
Copper news
Half of the 16 participants in the second phase of clinical trials of an experimental method of immunotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme using the ICT-107 vaccine lived more than five years after diagnosis, which is four times higher than the average with standard therapy. The tests are being conducted at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Their results, according to a press release of the medical center (Update: 50 Percent of Patients in Cedars-Sinai Brain Cancer Study Alive After Five Years), were presented during the conference of the International Federation of Neuro-Oncology held from November 21 to 24 in San Francisco.
Glioblastoma multiforme is an incurable, the most aggressive malignant brain tumor. Despite the achievements of neurosurgery, as well as radiation and chemotherapy, the average life expectancy after the detection of glioblastoma is 15 months. About ten percent of patients live more than five years after diagnosis.
The ICT-107 vaccine, developed by the biotech company ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, in which Cedars-Sinai Hospital has a stake, is designed to activate the immune response to tumor cells and is based on one of the main mechanisms of action of the immune system – the presentation of antigens to T cells performed by dendritic cells. Dendritic cells absorb antigens and present them on their surface, which enables T cells to recognize the antigen, activate and develop an immune response.
The dendritic cells isolated from the peripheral blood monocytes of the test participants then meet in vitro with synthetic proteins of six antigens produced by so–called cancer stem cells - small groups of cells on which the growth of tumors, in this case glioblastomas, depends. The concept of cancer stem cells has emerged relatively recently, but today they are considered central participants in carcinogenesis and the main target in the development of new methods of cancer therapy. Cancer stem cells can "wait out" the effects of both chemotherapy and radiation therapy in a dormant state in order to then begin active division and start the re-development of the disease.
The updated dendritic cells representing antigens are then returned to the body in the form of subcutaneous injection. Injections of ICT-107 are carried out three times at two-week intervals after a standard course of radiation and chemotherapy.
Currently, seven of the 16 participants in the trials, which began back in 2007, are alive, and their life expectancy after diagnosis ranges from 60.7 to 82.7 months (from five to almost seven years). Six patients have been in remission of the disease for more than five years. Four of them had not only remission for five and a half to seven years, but also a good quality of life. One participant, whose glioblastoma remission also lasted more than five years, died of leukemia.
It was found that in all eight "centenarians" tumors contain at least five antigens associated with cancer stem cells, and in six cases all six such antigens are represented. "The results indicate that a targeted attack on antigens expressed by cancer stem cells is a successful strategy in the treatment of glioblastoma, as evidenced by long–term remission in participants whose tumors contain exactly such antigens," said Surasak Fufanich, head of the neurooncological program at Cochran Brain Tumor Center, professor of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Phuphanich).
It is worth noting that so far, successes in the field of glioblastoma therapy have been reported only in connection with experiments on mice. So in early November, a group of specialists from Northwestern University (Chicago) reported that they had managed to turn off the gene responsible for tumor growth and resistance by using spherical nanoparticles with gold cores developed by the authors, delivering small interfering RNAs programmed to reduce oncogene expression to brain cells.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru26.11.2013