Vaccine Appears To "Mop Up" Leukemia Cells Gleevec Leaves Behind

[HuckleB]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184341.php

"Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers say preliminary studies show that a vaccine made with leukemia cells may be able to reduce or eliminate the last remaining cancer cells in some chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients taking the drug Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec).

Gleevec, one of the first targeted cancer therapies with wide success in CML patients, destroys most leukemic cells in the body, but in most patients, some cancerous cells remain and are measurable with sensitive molecular tests. These remaining cells are a source of relapse, according to the investigators, especially if Gleevec therapy is stopped.

In a pilot study published in Clinical Cancer Research, the Johns Hopkins investigators used a vaccine made from CML cells irradiated to halt their cancerous potential and genetically altered to produce an immune system stimulator called GM-CSF. The treated cells also carry molecules, called antigens, specific to CML cells, which prime the immune system to recognize and kill circulating CML cells.

The study vaccine was given to 19 CML patients with measurable cancer cells, despite taking Gleevec for at least one year. A series of 10 skin injections were given every three weeks for a total of four times. After a median of 72 months of follow-up, the number of remaining cancer cells declined in 13 patients, 12 of whom reached their lowest levels of residual cancer cells. In seven patients, CML became completely undetectable.

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It's very preliminary, but ...

[enlightenment]

1. I wonder if that would work with GIST?

My father has been on Gleevec for almost six years - and it has kept him alive, no doubt - but it doesn't eradicate the tumors, just keeps them from developing. When they take him off the drug, the cancer comes back.

He wouldn't be eligible for a trial, given his age and health status (88 and weak) but I hope they extend the study to GIST as well as CML.