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Vaccine May Boost Survival of Brain Cancer Patients
The tumors are similar to the type diagnosed in Sen. Edward Kennedy
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
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MONDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental cancer vaccine is showing promise against the same general type of brain tumor diagnosed in Sen. Edward Kennedy, researchers are reporting.
The vaccine, when given with chemotherapy, more than doubled progression-free survival in patients with glioblastoma multiforme tumors. Kennedy underwent surgery Monday for a malignant glioma, a class of brain tumor that includes glioblastoma.
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"It's a very small study but the results are very encouraging," said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the brain tumor center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C. "It's often said that big differences would be obvious even in small studies, [and] in this very small study the average length of time patients were alive and without progression of gliobastoma was 16 months. It's quite remarkable."
The study results were to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, in Chicago. The study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Celldex Therapeutics, which has licensed the rights to the vaccine.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,810 malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord will be diagnosed this year in the United States. Approximately 13,070 people -- 7,420 men and 5,650 women -- will die from these tumors. The cancers account for about 1.3 percent of all cancers and 2.2 percent of all cancer-related deaths in the United States.
Current therapies for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
The experimental vaccine targets a protein called epithelial growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII), and strengthens the body's immune response. The protein is produced in about half of all GBM tumors but not in normal tissue.
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Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 6/2/2008
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SOURCES: John Sampson, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, neurosurgery, Duke University, and associate deputy director, Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Deepa Subramaniam, M.D., director, Brain Tumor Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; June 2, 2008, presentation, American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, Chicago
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