CLEVELAND — An experimental vaccine is showing promise against one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer.
In a recent trials, the vaccine SurVaxM, delayed the recurrence of glioblastoma.
Glioblastomas account for nearly half of all malignant brain tumors and is devastating for patients.
Dr. Herbert Newton, the medical director for neuro-oncology at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, said it’s the most common brain cancer in adults.
“It’s considered a grade four cancerous tumor. It is generally not something that we can cure. It's hard to control,” he said. ‘It’s really hard for most people to live for two or three years with the disease.”
Surgical removal of the tumor isn’t always possible because of just how fast it can spread to other parts of the brain and spine, but SurvaxM targets a protein called survivin on the tumor.
“Which is inside the tumor cells and actually slows down this process called apoptosis, which is supposed to cause normal cells to die at a certain time. So they don't live forever. The tumor cells have an increased amount of the survivin, which kind of inhibits this apoptosis allows them to live for a long time, sometimes making them somewhat immortal,” said Dr. Newton.
The goal is for the vaccine to attack the protein, and, in turn, the tumor will shrink or, at the very least, not grow to other parts of the brain.
In early clinical trials, the vaccine extended the survival time of patients with glioblastoma by 26 months.
Dr. Newton said it’s a beacon of hope in glioblastoma research.
“Immunotherapy with vaccines and those kinds of treatments are being used with lots of cancer types and making progress with glioblastoma has been slower. We've tried other types of vaccines already, vaccines against certain types of mutations like epidermal growth factor receptor, those kinds of things, and those haven't shown as much progress as we had hoped. But with this new vaccine against survivin, it seems like the results, again, so far are looking a bit more promising,” he said.
The vaccine maker is looking to expand the clinical trial to more patients and Dr. Newton is hopeful to get it at University Hospitals.
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