AACR 2020: Dendritic Cell Vaccines for Advanced Ovarian Cancers
Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2020
According to findings from a multi-institutional study, presented as part of the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting (Abstract CT189), patient-specific dendritic cell vaccines with tumor antigens from self-renewing autologous tumor cells may improve outcomes in patients with advanced ovarian epithelial cancer. Lisa N. Abaid, MD, of Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach, California, and colleagues sought to achieve a 50% reduction in the mortality risk compared with a control group.
The double-blinded phase II trial enrolled 14 patients with primary ovarian cancer, 2 with fallopian tube cancer, and 1 with primary intraperitoneal cancer. Approximately 7 months after initial surgery, patients were randomly assigned 2:1 to the vaccine arm or the control arm. Dendritic cells were used to create patient-specific vaccines after incubation with the lysate of ovary cancer cells and administered in the vaccine arm, whereas cryopreserved autologous monocytes derived from a leukapheresis product were used in the control arm. Medications were administered subcutaneously in conjunction with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. As of the analysis date, 100% cell line success had been achieved in addition to 95% success in collection of monocytes.
At the time of treatment assignments, 15 patients had no sign of disease; at diagnosis, 15 had stage 3 disease and 2 had stage 4 disease. A total of 7 patients received adjuvant primary systemic therapy, whereas 10 received neoadjuvant therapy. Of the 17 patients enrolled, 13 had begun receiving therapy at the time of the abstract presentation. The treatment was well tolerated, with nine patients receiving all eight scheduled doses. Neither of the two patients who discontinued therapy prematurely did so as a result of toxicity, although one was hospitalized after the eighth dose for refractory urticaria.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit abstractsonline.com.
