Presented at the Fourth International Conference on Cancer Immunotherapy, the clinical trial of a vaccine has shown particularly promising results in the treatment of HER2 positive metastatic cancers.
A “promising” phase 1 clinical trial. This is how the research carried out on a new anti-cancer treatment was presented at the Fourth International Conference CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR on Cancer Immunotherapy which is currently taking place in New York, United States. .
For the first time, researchers have succeeded in stimulating the immune system of patients with HER2-positive cancer.
More aggressive cancers
Also known as the ErbB2 gene, HER2 stands for “human epidermal growth factor receptor 2“, ie human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. It is one of the most promising cancer biomarkers discovered in recent years. Indeed, overexpression of the HER2 gene is associated with a large volume of cancer. cancers and is often associated with aggressive tumor growth.To date, a number of anti-cancer drugs have been designed to directly inhibit HER2.
The novelty of this vaccine is that it produces an immunotherapy agent that uses the protein as a biomarker to direct the immune system against tumors. “Immunotherapy brings together the exquisite specificity of the immune system to destroy cancer, and some types can potentially have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy,” said Dr. Jay A. Berzofsky, chief vaccine officer at the Center for Cancer Research, at the National Cancer Institute and at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. “We are using a vaccine approach to generate an immune response to HER2, which is found at high levels in several types of cancer, including breast, ovarian, lung, colorectal and gastroesophageal cancers, and which promotes their growth. “
In the phase 1 clinical trial, 17 patients received a dose of personalized vaccine, made from their own immune cells (dendritic cells) isolated from their blood and which were genetically modified in the laboratory with an adenovirus so that they produce parts of the HER2 protein.
A clinical benefit in 54% of cases
Patients were injected with the vaccine at weeks 0, 4, 8, 16, and 24 after entering the study. 6 patients received the lowest dose of the vaccine, i.e. 5 million dendritic cells per injection. No benefit was then observed.
On the other hand, among the 11 patients who received either 10 million or 20 million dendritic cells by injection, a clinical benefit was observed for 6 of them (54%). Thus, a patient with ovarian cancer had a complete response that lasted 89 weeks, a patient with gastroesophageal cancer had a partial response that lasted 16 weeks and 4 patients (2 with colon cancer, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer) have stabilized.
“Our results suggest that we have here a very promising vaccine for cancers overexpressing the HER2 gene,” says Dr Berzofsky. “We hope that one day the vaccine will provide a new treatment option for patients with these cancers.”
Additional trials should soon be launched. Now, Dr Berzofsky’s team wants to expand “the proportion of people who benefit from treatment with the vaccine by combining it with treatment with a checkpoint inhibitor”.
.