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A new personalised cancer vaccine has shown promising anti-tumour immunity in patients with stage 3 and stage 4 clear cell kidney cancer. The vaccine has also been shown to delay the cancer from coming back (recurrence) in patients with advanced high-risk kidney cancer after nephrectomy to remove the tumour.
Researchers found that after a follow up of nearly 3 and a half years after surgery to remove the tumour, none of the 9 patients in the study had cancer recurrence and the vaccine was very well tolerated. All patients developed an immune response against the cancer.
The vaccine is a personalised neoantigen vaccine. Kidney cancers have changes in the DNA of their cells (mutations) that are specific to an individual patient and tumour. These mutations can cause the tumour cells to produce proteins that appear very different from the body’s own cells (neoantigens). These proteins are used to make the vaccine and are only produced by kidney cancer tumours. The vaccine causes the body’s immune cells (T cells) to specifically target kidney cancer neoantigens to cause a strong immune response to help the body destroy any cancer cells that could cause the kidney cancer to come back in the future. In this study, the personalised cancer vaccine was used in combination with ipilimumab to boost the immune system.
The most common side effects were mild injection-site reactions in all 9 patients and short-lasting flu-like symptoms in 8 of 9 patients. There were no serious or life-threatening side effects or side effects that caused the dose of the vaccine to be reduced. Other side effects were extreme tiredness (fatigue), changes to liver function, a decrease in white blood cells, and dry skin.
There is an ongoing phase 2 study of a personalised cancer vaccine (V940) in combination with pembrolizumab for the adjuvant treatment (after surgery) of kidney cancer. This study is taking place at 5 hospitals in the UK. See more on our Clinical Trial Finder here.
