Personal Vaccine vs. Personal Tumor

Catherine Wu, MD
Photo credit: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

For several of my friends and relatives the battle against cancer was personal.

Many did not emerge victorious.

Now, here’s a report that turns the spotlight on a personalized method of combating at least one form of cancer.

“A personal cancer treatment vaccine that targets distinctive 'neoantigens' on tumor cells has been shown to stimulate a potent, safe, and highly specific immune anti-tumor response in melanoma patients, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.”

“The study, published online by Nature 'provides proof-of-principle that a personal vaccine tailored to a patient’s tumor can be produced and generates highly specific responses to that patient’s tumor after vaccination,' said the researchers, led by Catherine J. Wu, MD, senior author of the report. She is a researcher at Dana-Farber, the Broad Institute, and Harvard Medical School.”

“The scientists said that while most therapies are based on the on-size-fits-all model of medicine, ‘we’ve long recognized in cancer that every patient’s tumor is different. With recent advances in technology, it’s now becoming possible to create a therapy that’s suited to target an individual’s tumor.’”

“The researchers say the results warrant further development of neoantigen vaccines, both alone and in combination with other immunotherapy weapons such as checkpoint inhibitors. The vaccine, known as NeoVax, prompted strong activity by the patients’ immune systems while causing negligible side effects.”

“First authors of the report are Patrick A. Ott, MD, PhD, and Zhuting Hu, PhD, of Dana-Farber. Other senior authors include Nir Hacohen, PhD, of the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital, Edward Fritsch, PhD, formerly of Dana-Farber and now at Neon Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass, and Eric Lander, PhD, of the Broad Institute.”

Please go here for the whole story:
Personal neoantigen vaccine prompts strong anti-tumor response in patients, new study shows, Catherine Wu, MD, et al, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 5 July 2017.