Lung Cancer Vaccine

A possible lung cancer vaccine has been in the news since 2007 and there was a flurry of news articles in 2009.

A vaccine can be a chemical or biological substance. It is designed to make our own immune system respond to a tumor or other microorganisms, such as bacteria or viruses. A vaccine can help the body recognize and destroy cancers or microorganisms.

The first clinical trial - lung cancer vaccine, is being studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It involves a Phase III clinical trial of a vaccine called Stimuvax developed in the United States.

The study includes 1300 people at 250 sites in 30 countries. Patients were required to have inoperable Stage III lung cancer confined to the lungs and have recently received chemotherapy and radiation.

Those treated with Stimuvax survived an average of four months longer than those in a control group who did not receive the vaccine.

The most-often tested lung cancer vaccine is Lucanix, which is in ongoing international Phase III clinical trial - lung cancer. IT has already passed Phase I and Phase II studies.

This clinical trial involves 2,300 people at 400 centers in 33 countries. Results from Lucanix were uniformly positive at the University of California, San Diego Morse Cancer Center.

Lucanix is an Antigen-Specific Cancer Immunotherapeutic (ASCI) compound that triggers the natural immune system to fight cancer cells. One of the antigens: MAGE-A3, is present in 30 to 40% of people with NSCLC. It is not found in normal cells, but is found in both early and advanced stage lung cancer.

The vaccine contains these antigen particles as well as molecules that cause inflammation. The inflammation alerts the immune system and activates killer T-cells that can kill cancer cells.

"Researchers hope that these new vaccines will become an effective treatment for lung cancer patients". Lucanix contains genetically modified lung cancer cells. These modified cells are injected in the hope that the body's immune system will kill them and the other cancer cells in a person's body.

At the Cuban Center for Molecular Immunology a vaccine called Cimavax EGF is being tested. So far, Cimavax has extended the life of terminal patients by four months. It instructs the body to make antibodies against EFG (epidermal growth factor), which retards the growth of cancer cells.

Another vaccine - L-BLP25 - is in a Phase II clinical trial at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. It is the first vaccine used to treat people with inoperable Stage III NSCLC. Data from the Phase IIb study showed an increase in the survival rate of people with the Stage III non-small cell lung cancer.

As the baseline survival rate for lung cancer is only about 10%, it is researcher's hope that these new vaccines will become an effective treatment for lung cancer patients.

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