Researchers test custom-made vaccine.(nonHodgkin lymphoma)(Brief Article)

2002 MAY 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As part of a national multicenter study, researchers at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore are testing a custom-made vaccine for low-grade nonHodgkin lymphoma that uses each patient's own tumor cells to combat the cancer.

"This type of low-grade follicular lymphoma has traditionally been highly treatable, but essentially incurable," said Aaron P. Rapoport, MD, the director of lymphoma-gene medicine at the Greenebaum Cancer Center and the chief investigator for the study. "This technique for harnessing the immune system may result in long-term disease remission and potential cures for some patients."

So far, four people have been enrolled in the study at the Greenebaum Cancer Center, but researchers hope to recruit a total of 12-15 patients in the phase III clinical trial. The first patient to be vaccinated, a 45-year-old Baltimore woman, started her treatment earlier in April 2002 after completing a course of chemotherapy.

About 480 patients are expected to participate in the nationwide study at 25 institutions in the United States and Canada. The study is sponsored by Genitope Corp., a California-based biotechnology company developing new therapies for treating cancer.

To be eligible for the study, patients must have been diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a common form of cancer of the lymphatic system, and have not yet received treatment. If enrolled, they will have a small biopsy taken of their cancer, either from a lymph node or bone marrow, which will be sent to Genitope to make a vaccine unique to each patient.

The customized vaccine is designed to target a tumor-specific marker, or idiotype, which, like a fingerprint, is unique to every lymphoma patient. Once injected, the vaccine is intended to activate the immune system to attack cells that have the idiotype protein on their surface, namely the cancer cells.

"Without this, the body's immune system is somewhat blind to the lymphoma. Lymphomas and other types of cancers use mechanisms to evade the body's immune system," said Rapoport, an ...