Safe mesothelioma vaccine may be on the horizon
A team of Dutch researchers has come up with preliminary data suggesting that an antigen-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine may be an effective, safe and feasible treatment option for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. The vaccine was administered to mesothelioma patients following chemotherapy, and antitumor immune responses were detected. Study results appeared in the March 4 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine online.
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure and is aggressive and generally difficult to treat. But this study shows that immunotherapy appears to be a safe and viable mesothelioma treatment option which could prolong life expectancy. Mesothelioma tumors are immunogenic, not metastasizing until late in the disease, with circulating cells that are removed until the patient’s immune system is no longer working properly. In the preclinical studies, the research team observed that the immunotherapy led to prolonged survival in mice, which led to the study involving human patients.
Four out of six adult male patients had measurable cytotoxicity against tumor cells following immunotherapy. Patients tolerated the vaccine well, none of them requiring dose adjustments or discontinuations. Nearly all of the patients experienced a localized rash at the injection site. Eight of them developed flu-like symptoms, which subsided after just one day for all but one of them.
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