US biotechnology firm MabVax Therapeutics Inc. has begun enrollment in a Phase II clinical trial seeking to ascertain the safety and efficacy profile of a vaccine it has in the pipeline against patients with metastatic sarcomas. This randomized, multicenter, double-blind trial will enroll 126 patients.
Over 13,000 cases of sarcoma are diagnosed in the US each year. Prognosis is grim; nearly half that figure will die from their disease within the year. Typically, sarcomas are treated with surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, but recurrence is both common and often fatal.
CANCER TYPE(S)
Sarcomas (tumors that develop in connective tissues)
TREATMENT TYPE
Biological therapy: vaccine.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
This vaccine is a trivalent ganglioside vaccine, meaning it targets three antigens (gangliosides) on the surface of cancer cells.
Over 84 weeks, a patient would receive 10 injections of the vaccine, along with what's called an immunological adjuvant. Together, they incite the immune system to attack the three ganglioside antigens found on the surface of sarcoma cells. The idea is that the vaccine not only kills the primary sarcoma but also the so-called micrometastases throughout the body in an effort to prevent the cancer from coming back.
By Ross Bonander
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT0114191)
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