Early-Phase Trial of Vaccine in NSCLC
Posted: Wednesday, June 14, 2017
An investigational adenoviral dendritic cell vaccine has been found to amplify the immune response in people with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the early findings reported by Lee et al in Clinical Cancer Research. This phase I study was the first to test the CCL21-DC vaccine, which expresses the CCL21 gene, in humans. The vaccine was administered directly into the tumors of 16 patients with NSCLC, in 2 doses, 1 week apart.
Stable disease was reported in 25% of patients, and tumor CD8-positive T-cell infiltration was induced in 54% of patients. In addition, those with increased CD8-positive T cells after vaccination exhibited increased programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) mRNA expression.
“The results of this study are promising, as this vaccine has the potential to combine with other immunotherapy treatment strategies for NSCLC that boost the immune system’s recognition of the tumor,” said Steven M. Dubinett, MD, lead study author and Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.
The investigators plan to study further the role of combination therapies with programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/PL-L1 checkpoint inhibition and vaccination.
