A 12-country Phase 3 trial of DCVax has resulted in significantly approved survival rates in newly diagnosed GBM patients, including those who could not have surgery, older patients and even in those where the cancer had recurred.
At CANCERactive, we have covered this trial at least twice before - for example,
HERE. Other trials of Dendritic cell vaccines can be found
HERE.
Now the very final results are in, for this important vaccine. DCVax, which was first reviewed in 2009 (1), and trialed for more than a decade (2). In 2018, World wide head of the trial and lead author Linda Liau was praising the first results from this Clinical Trial (3)
is the first potentially mass-market dendritic cell vaccine, although we have covered results on a tailored vaccine made by Dr Henry Friedman of the Preston Robert Tisch Centre in Carolina, in Amy's story
HERE.
What's a Dendritic Cell Vaccine?
Put simply, you have two parts to your immune system. In the Innate Immune System (that you were born with) you have T-cells that attack anything from Covid to cancer. If they fail, Dendritic cells take a piece of the rogue cell, and hand it over to your B-cells which make specific antibodies in your Adaptive Immune System (that you build throughout your life). By taking Dendritic cells, with piece from your specific cancer and multiplying them before reintroducing them into the body as a vaccine, you get a much better and more tailored result.
DCVax is a significant advance for GBM patients
- The multi-centre trial included 331 people with a glioblastoma, (GBM);
- The European arm was led by King's College, London neurosurgeon, Prof Keyoumars Ashkan
- The last significant GBM drug, Temozolomide, first applied for approval in 1986
- In the UK, life expectancy with a GBM is current up to 18 months; CANCERactive founder Cattherine Woollams had an original prognosis of just 5 months.
- Newly diagnosed patients given DCVax, survived for an average of 19.3 months compared with 16.5 months for those taking a placebo.
- Patients whose GBM had recurred survived on average for 13.2 months on DCVax compared with just 7.8 months for those not given the vaccine.
- While only 5.7% of the control group survived 5 years, 13% of people receiving DCVax survived 5 years.
- One patient in the study has lived for more than eight years, and a UK patient more than seven so far.
- The vaccine was created by NorthWest Therapeutics, who are currently building a factory in the UK at Sawston (4).
- We understand production has started and Professor Ashkan has been giving DCVax to several patients already.
- Chris Woollams reviews Brain Cancer Treatments on the Sunday Show HERE.
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