No Chemo Needed With This Cancer 'Vaccine' Candidate

A new solid tumor cancer vaccine clinical trial is fundamentally different than previous research studies.

This small, phase 1 study, is not only different, it may also be simpler and less expensive because patient-specific engineering is not required.

Which means, no chemotherapy is involved in this treatment.

This new treatment is not technically a vaccine, but rather immunotherapy.

Preclinical data from a ‘mice’ study showed 87 out of 90 mice had a complete response.

This vaccine candidate restarts the immune attack initially started by the body, but is turned off by the tumor with low-grade B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

The two components of this new vaccine approach have already been approved.

But, the combination of these two components is not yet approved.

This vaccine candidate's two components are CpG oligonucleotide, which has been used as a vaccine adjuvant since 2011, and an antibody called BMS-986178, that binds to a protein called OX40.

Together, they synergistically activate the immune cells already in the tumor.

The final approval for this combination may only be two years away, according to trial leader Dr. Ronald Levy.

Dr. Levy is a pioneer in the field of cancer immunotherapy, in which researchers try to harness the immune system to combat cancer. Research in his laboratory led to the development of rituximab, one of the first monoclonal antibodies approved for use as an anti-cancer treatment in humans.

This Stanford University study is important because if it succeeds, other cancer immunotherapy efforts could benefit.

“This is a very targeted approach,” said Dr. Levy, who is a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute and Stanford Bio-X.

“Only the tumor that shares the protein targets displayed by the treated site is affected. We’re attacking specific targets without having to identify exactly what proteins the T cells are recognizing.”

But, this vaccine candidate will not be a cancer cure-all, because it isn't designed to treat cancers that aren't solid tumors.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant CA188005), the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Boaz and Varda Dotan Foundation and the Phil N. Allen Foundation.