Cancer Vaccine To Fight Melanoma

A new vaccine developed to stimulate the immune system and attack cancer was recently found to have a modest benefit on patients with advanced melanoma.

According to Dr. Douglas Schwartzentruber, cancer chief at Goshen health System in central Indiana, who also delivered the study results at a recent meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, says the idea is to help the immune system recognize the threat and provoke it to attack. The study was participated by 180 patients, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute with Novartiz AG, with interleukin-2 used as the standard treatment.

“The vaccine trains the soldiers and the interleukin-2 multiplies them into an army,” Schwartzentruber explained. The patients were given the vaccine or a dummy shot a day before starting intravenous interleukin-2 treatment repeated for about four to six times every three weeks.

Findings showed, 22 percent of patients given the vaccine plus interleukin-2 ,saw their tumors shrink by half or more, compared with 10 percent of those getting only interleukin-2 treatment. In addition, vaccine users saw their tumors stabilize for three months versus half that time for the other.

Schwartzentruber also reported that 15 patients receiving the vaccine developed a heart rhythm problem but was treated successfully with medicines.