Results of a Phase II clinical trial with Id-protein-loaded dendritic cell vaccine in multiple myeloma: encouraging or discouraging?

Immunotherapy. 2012 Oct;4(10):991-4. doi: 10.2217/imt.12.94.

Abstract

Recently gained insight into the role of dendritic cells (DCs) as APCs has attracted the attention of many researchers who hope to use them as a tool in immunotherapy for the induction of tumor-specific immunity in cancer settings. Despite high expectations, in multiple myeloma patients the results of DC-based vaccines in terms of clinical response have been disappointing. The findings of Zahradova et al. in a Phase II clinical trial with multiple myeloma patients corroborated these results. Although no clinical responses were observed, the investigators induced immunity after vaccination with Id-protein-loaded DC vaccine in some patients. These immunological results showed a trend towards a longer duration of stable disease in those patients that received the vaccination. Moreover, this study showed that Id-protein-loaded DC vaccines are safe and nontoxic and that they are able to induce immunity in some patients. Therefore, standardization of vaccination protocols appears to be the key to achieving a better clinical outcome.

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