Autologous cancer vaccine extends survival in patients with newly diagnosed GBM

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

Final results from a phase 2 study show that adding Prophage autologous cancer vaccine to the standard-of-care treatment for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) improves survival. Patients in this single-arm, multi-institutional, open-label study who received the vaccine lived nearly twice as long as expected. Median survival was approximately 24 months, and 33% of patients remain alive at 2 years and continue to be followed for survival. Patients with GBM typically live for only 1 year after diagnosis. Prophage is an autologous cancer vaccine prepared from the patient’s own surgically resected tumor, an approach intended to create a tailor-made vaccine for the patient’s specific tumor. The investigators noted that Prophage seems to be more pronounced in patients with less expression of the checkpoint ligand PDL-1 on the white blood cells. This suggests that combining Prophage with checkpoint modulators such as PD-1 antagonists may make the vaccine even more effective in a greater percentage of patients with GBM.