Abstract
Background: We tested the hypothesis that a novel vaccine developed from autologous dendritic cells (DC) loaded with cells from a unique allogeneic brain tumor cell line (GBM6-AD) would be well-tolerated and would generate an immune response.Method: Patients with recurrent primary brain tumors underwent vaccination with GBM6-AD/DC vaccine. Subjects were treated at escalating DC cell doses: 5 × 106 (one patient), 10 × 106 (one patient) and 15 × 106 (6 patients). Subcutaneous injections were planned for days 0, 14, 28, 42, 56, and monthly thereafter. The primary endpoint was the safety of the GBM6-AD/DC vaccination. The secondary endpoints were immune response, measured by flow cytometry, and the clinical outcome of tumor response defined by time to progression and overall survival.Results: Eight patients were treated. The first three patients were treated in the dose escalation phase of the trial; the remaining five patients received the maximum dose of 15 × 106 DC. No dose limiting toxicity was observed. The best response per modified McDonald criteria was partial response in one patient. Flow cytometric immune profiling revealed significant differences in CD4+IL17+ lymphocytes and myeloid derived suppressor cell populations between patients characterized as having stable vs. non-stable disease.Conclusion: This first-in-human study shows that the GBM6-AD/DC vaccine was well tolerated and was associated with an immune response in a subset of patients. No MTD was achieved in this trial. This small-scale pilot provides information for larger scale investigations into the use of this allogeneic vaccine source.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 4 |
Journal | Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 18 2014 |
Keywords
- Brain tumor
- Dendritic cell
- Immunotherapy
- Vaccine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology
- Molecular Medicine
- Oncology
- Pharmacology
- Cancer Research