Medical Breakthrough: Vaccine Trial Prolonged Life to Even Those With Aggressive Brain Cancer

King's College Hospital researchers tested the DCVAX-L to see how it would affect the survival rate for patients with recurrent brain tumors for several months or years. The brain tumor vaccine tested in a clinical trial at the London hospital showed that it could significantly prolong life in cancer patients, even those with severe glioblastoma.

The vaccine is a first-of-its-kind to extend survival in recurrent glioblastoma and offers fresh hope to patients. Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of a brain tumor, with 2,500 new cases each year in England, per Brain Research UK.

(Photo: Pixabay/Triggermouse)
Medical Breakthrough: Vaccine Trial Prolonged Life to Even Those With Aggressive Brain Cancer

Fresh Hope for Treating Glioblastoma

Neurosurgery Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, the chief investigator of the clinical trial, said that immunotherapy is a promising treatment option for cancer and that the final results of the clinical trial offer fresh hope to patients with glioblastoma.

According to Telegraph's report, the team showed that 13% of patients who received the brain tumor vaccine were still alive after five years, compared to 5.7% in the control group. One patient even lived for another eight years after receiving the vaccine.

The treatment works by harnessing the power of the person's immune system to fight cancer and teaches it to recognize and attack cancer cells. Each vaccine is personalized as it is designed for every individual by isolating specific immune cells called dendritic cells, which are taken from their blood.

These dendritic immune cells capture detrimental invaders and present them to other immune cells to be eliminated. The vaccine is made by extracting these cells and mixing them with biomarkers from the patient's tumor. It is then injected into the patient and attacks the tumor.

Newly-diagnosed patients with glioblastoma who were treated with the vaccine survived 19.3 more months on average compared to 16.5 months for those in the control group. On average, patients with recurrent glioblastoma who were treated with the vaccine survived for 13.2 months compared to the control group, who lived for 7.8 months on average.

8-Year Clinical Trial for Cancer Vaccine

The clinical trial lasted eight years and involved more than 300 patients from the US, the UK, Canada, and Germany, per Evening Standard's report. All of them were diagnosed with glioblastoma, two-thirds were given the vaccine, and the rest received a placebo treatment.

Both groups received the standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, but only the vaccine group received the new treatment of the brain cancer vaccine.

Most of the participants in the trial reported no side effects from the new treatment except for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Only five reported having experienced adverse side effects that may have been related to other treatments.

Due to the positive results of their vaccine, the team is keen on conducting another clinical trial to test the vaccine's effectiveness against other types of brain tumors and combine it with other medications.