Personalized Vaccine Said to Work in Some Colorectal Cancer Patients

Antigenics Inc.reported that interim results from Phase II trials of its personalized cancer vaccine Oncophage® show that it induced immune response in about half of the colorectal cancer patients in the study.

Oncophage is a personalized cancer vaccine derived from each individual's tumor. It contains complexes of heat shock proteins -- the "antigenic fingerprint" of the patient's particular cancer -- and is designed to reprogram the body's immune system to target and destroy only cancer cells bearing this fingerprint.

Oncophage is intended to leave healthy tissue unaffected to prevent the debilitating side effects associated with traditional cancer treatments, researchers said.

The researchers reported in an oral presentation at the 93rd annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research that their study showed treatment with Oncophage can induce significant expansion of cancer-specific immune responses,

Clinical findings from the Phase II trial are scheduled to be announced next month at the 38th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Other sources: Antigenics