Latest news with #PatrickOtt
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cancer vaccine shows promising results for certain patients
There could be new hope on the horizon for kidney cancer patients in the form of an experimental vaccine. Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Yale Cancer Center and other universities have announced early findings from a study of an anti-tumor vaccine for patients with advanced kidney cancer. "Patients with stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer are at high risk of recurrence," said co-senior author and co-principal investigator Toni Choueiri, MD, director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Cancer at Dana-Farber, in a press release. Disease Starts On Your Plate, Cardiologist Says — Here's What To Change "The tools we have to lower that risk are not perfect, and we are relentlessly looking for more." After undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumor, the study's nine participants received a cancer vaccine that was intended to "train" their immune systems to identify and attack any lingering cancer cells, according to the press release. Read On The Fox News App Each vaccine was personalized to match the individual patient's tumor type based on cancer cells that were removed during surgery. These cells contain "neoantigens," which are "tiny fragments of mutant proteins," the release stated. The researchers used "predictive algorithms" to determine which neoantigens should be included in the vaccine to provide the highest level of immunity. Prostate Cancer Cases Spike In This Us State As Doctors Share Likely Reason Five of the patients also received ipilimumab, a type of immunotherapy drug. All nine patients showed a "successful anti-cancer immune response" after getting the vaccine. After an average of 34.7 months, they all remained cancer-free. Within three weeks of receiving the vaccine, patients showed an "immune response," with T-cells spiking by more than 166 times, the release said. (T-cells, also known as T lymphocytes, are immune cells that help to fight cancer and prevent infection.) In the study, the T cells were found to remain in the patient's body for up to three years and attacked the existing tumor cells. "We observed a rapid, substantial, and durable expansion of new T cell clones related to the vaccine," said Patrick Ott, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Cancer Vaccines at Dana-Farber. "These results support the feasibility of creating a highly immunogenic personalized neoantigen vaccine in a lower mutation burden tumor and are encouraging, though larger-scale studies will be required to fully understand the clinical efficacy of this approach." The results of the clinical trial were reported in the journal Nature on Feb. 5. "We're very excited about these results, which show such a positive response in all nine patients with kidney cancer," Choueiri noted. For most stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer patients, the standard treatment is surgical removal of the tumor, which is often followed by an immunotherapy drug called Pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Common Cancer Type Could Be Detected With New Blood Test "Pembrolizumab induces an immune response that reduces the risk of the cancer coming back," according to Dana-Farber. "However, about two-thirds of patients can still recur and have limited treatment options." First author David A. Braun, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and physician-scientist at Yale Cancer Center and Yale School of Medicine, noted that the approach used in this study was "truly distinct from vaccine attempts in kidney cancer." "We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively 'steered' toward the cancer in a very specific way," Braun said in the release. "We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognize cancer. We believe this work can form a foundation for the development of neoantigen vaccines in kidney cancer." Charles Nguyen, MD, a medical oncologist who specializes in kidney cancer at City of Hope in Orange County, California, noted that kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers among men and women in the U.S. "Patients with early stage (localized) kidney cancer are often first treated with surgery to remove the tumor — however, many patients have a risk of the cancer coming back years after surgery, and there is a great interest in finding ways to lower the risk of cancer recurrence," Nguyen, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "This exciting clinical trial evaluated a personalized cancer vaccine that uses genetic information from each patient's cancer to train and enhance the patient's immune system to recognize the cancer and prevent it from recurring." While Nguyen acknowledged that this was a small study, all nine patients who received the vaccine were cancer-free even three years later. "This is a very exciting and promising tool for many of our patients with kidney cancer, where we can one day make a cure possible for all." Some patients did experience side effects from the vaccine, including local reactions at the vaccine injection site and flu-like symptoms, although "no higher-grade side effects were reported." Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter The researchers also acknowledged that there were some limitations associated with the study. "There were limitations in the antigen-prediction tools available at the time and in the ability to target only a single antigen," they wrote. "Moreover, it was conducted in the setting of active metastatic disease in a number of study participants." Future research with larger clinical trials are planned to confirm the vaccine's effectiveness and full potential, the release stated. For more Health articles, visit Funding for this study was provided by the Gateway for Cancer Research, the U.S. Department of Defense, Yale Cancer Center, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Trust Family Foundation, Michael Brigham, Pan-Mass Challenge, Hinda L. and Arthur Marcus Foundation, The Loker Pinard Fund for Kidney Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Conquer Cancer Foundation/Sontag Foundation, the release article source: Cancer vaccine shows promising results for certain patients
Fox News
12-02-2025
- Health
- Fox News
New cancer vaccine shows promising results for certain patients
There could be new hope on the horizon for kidney cancer patients in the form of an experimental vaccine. Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Yale Cancer Center and other universities have announced early findings from a study of an anti-tumor vaccine for patients with advanced kidney cancer. "Patients with stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer are at high risk of recurrence," said co-senior author and co-principal investigator Toni Choueiri, MD, director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Cancer at Dana-Farber, in a press release. "The tools we have to lower that risk are not perfect, and we are relentlessly looking for more." After undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumor, the study's nine participants received a cancer vaccine that was intended to "train" their immune systems to identify and attack any lingering cancer cells, according to the press release. Each vaccine was personalized to match the individual patient's tumor type based on cancer cells that were removed during surgery. These cells contain "neoantigens," which are "tiny fragments of mutant proteins," the release stated. The researchers used "predictive algorithms" to determine which neoantigens should be included in the vaccine to provide the highest level of immunity. Five of the patients also received ipilimumab, a type of immunotherapy drug. All nine patients showed a "successful anti-cancer immune response" after getting the vaccine. After an average of 34.7 months, they all remained cancer-free. Within three weeks of receiving the vaccine, patients showed an "immune response," with T-cells spiking by more than 166 times, the release said. (T-cells, also known as T lymphocytes, are immune cells that help to fight cancer and prevent infection.) "The tools we have to lower that risk are not perfect and we are relentlessly looking for more." In the study, the T cells were found to remain in the patient's body for up to three years and attacked the existing tumor cells. "We observed a rapid, substantial, and durable expansion of new T cell clones related to the vaccine," said Patrick Ott, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Cancer Vaccines at Dana-Farber. "These results support the feasibility of creating a highly immunogenic personalized neoantigen vaccine in a lower mutation burden tumor and are encouraging, though larger-scale studies will be required to fully understand the clinical efficacy of this approach." The results of the clinical trial were reported in the journal Nature on Feb. 5. "We're very excited about these results, which show such a positive response in all nine patients with kidney cancer," Choueiri noted. For most stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer patients, the standard treatment is surgical removal of the tumor, which is often followed by an immunotherapy drug called Pembrolizumab (Keytruda). "Pembrolizumab induces an immune response that reduces the risk of the cancer coming back," according to Dana-Farber. "However, about two-thirds of patients can still recur and have limited treatment options." First author David A. Braun, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and physician-scientist at Yale Cancer Center and Yale School of Medicine, noted that the approach used in this study was "truly distinct from vaccine attempts in kidney cancer." "We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively 'steered' toward the cancer in a very specific way," Braun said in the release. "We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognize cancer. We believe this work can form a foundation for the development of neoantigen vaccines in kidney cancer." Charles Nguyen, MD, a medical oncologist who specializes in kidney cancer at City of Hope in Orange County, California, noted that kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers among men and women in the U.S. "This is a very exciting and promising tool for many of our patients with kidney cancer, where we can one day make a cure possible for all." "Patients with early stage (localized) kidney cancer are often first treated with surgery to remove the tumor — however, many patients have a risk of the cancer coming back years after surgery, and there is a great interest in finding ways to lower the risk of cancer recurrence," Nguyen, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "This exciting clinical trial evaluated a personalized cancer vaccine that uses genetic information from each patient's cancer to train and enhance the patient's immune system to recognize the cancer and prevent it from recurring." While Nguyen acknowledged that this was a small study, all nine patients who received the vaccine were cancer-free even three years later. "This is a very exciting and promising tool for many of our patients with kidney cancer, where we can one day make a cure possible for all." Some patients did experience side effects from the vaccine, including local reactions at the vaccine injection site and flu-like symptoms, although "no higher-grade side effects were reported." The researchers also acknowledged that there were some limitations associated with the study. "There were limitations in the antigen-prediction tools available at the time and in the ability to target only a single antigen," they wrote. "Moreover, it was conducted in the setting of active metastatic disease in a number of study participants." Future research with larger clinical trials are planned to confirm the vaccine's effectiveness and full potential, the release stated. For more Health articles, visit Funding for this study was provided by the Gateway for Cancer Research, the U.S. Department of Defense, Yale Cancer Center, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Trust Family Foundation, Michael Brigham, Pan-Mass Challenge, Hinda L. and Arthur Marcus Foundation, The Loker Pinard Fund for Kidney Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Conquer Cancer Foundation/Sontag Foundation, the release stated.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
BioNTech's oncology vaccine trial sees all patients living kidney cancer-free
All nine patients in a Phase I investigator-led trial of a personalised kidney cancer vaccine have successfully generated anti-cancer immune responses following tumour removal surgery. Researchers from the US-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute administered BioNTech's NeoVax personalised cancer vaccine to all nine patients with stage III or IV clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) following tumour removal surgery. Results published this week in the journal Nature saw all nine patients involved in the trial (NCT02950766) remaining cancer-free at the cut-off point of 34.7 months. The vaccines are personalised by way of neoantigens extracted from the patient's tumour tissue during tumour removal surgery, with predictive algorithms used to determine which neoantigens to include in the vaccine based on the likelihood of inducing an immune response. The vaccine then teaches the patient's body to combat leftover cancer cells and prevent them from resurfacing. Dr Patrick Ott, director of the Center for Cancer Vaccines at the Dana-Farber Institute, said: 'We observed a rapid, substantial and durable expansion of new T-cell clones related to the vaccine. 'These results support the feasibility of creating a highly immunogenic personalised neoantigen vaccine in a lower mutation burden tumour and are encouraging, though larger scale studies will be required to fully understand the clinical efficacy of this approach.' Researchers saw the NeoVax vaccine inducing an immune response within three weeks, with the number of vaccine-induced T cells increasing 166-fold. Additionally, in vitro studies also showed that the vaccine-induced T cells were active against the patient's tumour cells. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute collaborated with Gateway for Cancer Research, the US Department of Defense, Yale Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School for the Phase I study. Dr David Braun, physician-scientist at Yale Cancer Center and first author of the study, said: 'This approach is truly distinct from vaccine attempts in kidney cancer. 'We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively 'steered' towards the cancer in a very specific way. 'We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognise cancer. We believe this work can form a foundation for the development of neoantigen vaccines in kidney cancer.' The institute says that it launched a study into the world of personalised vaccines eight years ago after the system demonstrated some success in keeping cancer cells under control as part of a study into melanoma. Elsewhere in the field of vaccines intended to combat cancer, BioNTech has announced the initiation of global clinical trials for BNT116, an mRNA vaccine for the potential treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Meanwhile, a retrospective analysis of patients with advanced lung cancer revealed that those vaccinated with an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine had better survival outcomes when taking immune checkpoint inhibitors, compared to unvaccinated patients. "BioNTech's oncology vaccine trial sees all patients living kidney cancer-free" was originally created and published by Clinical Trials Arena, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
