Prostate Cancer Vaccine Promise

A new immunotherapy has demonstrated promise in Phase I and II prostatecancer trials, according to researchers at Northwest Hospital's Pacific Northwest Cancer Foundation. The research was supported by Northwest Biotherapeutics, a company in which the hospital has an ownership interest.

The therapy comprises injections containing enhanced versions of the patients' own dendritic cells, ie white blood cells which can stimulate an immune response. Once removed from the patient, their activity is enhanced with prostate-specific membrane antigen peptides and then injected back into the patient. The researchers believe that this will ensure that killer T cells recognize and destroy prostate cancer cells.

In the Phase II trials, 33 advanced prostate cancer patients who were resistant to conventional therapies (hormone therapy, radical prostatectomy and palliative radiation of metastases) were administered six injections over a six-week period.