Personalized vaccine for NHL being tested at New York Weill Cornell.

2003 JAN 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New York Weill Cornell Medical Center of Presbyterian-Presbyterian Hospital is currently seeking patients for a nationwide, multicenter clinical research trial to explore the benefits of a vaccine to treat low-grade follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

This randomized phase III study will test a personalized immunotherapy vaccine created from a patient's own tumor cells to potentially combat the cancer and interfere with disease progression. New York Weill Cornell is the only site in New York State participating in this trial.

"This study is for patients with previously untreated, advanced stage low- grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma who want to use their own immune system as a first line of defense to fight the disease," said John P. Leonard, MD, assistant professor of medicine, medical director, oncology services, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, and investigator on the trial.

"Low-grade NHL is a cancer with no readily available cure, and conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation have been shown to lose efficacy and cause side-effects as the disease progresses. We are hopeful that this technique for stimulating the immune system to recognize and then attack the cancer will result in longer-term remissions," Leonard added.

Approximately 480 patients are expected to participate in the North American study, being conducted at more than 25 institutions throughout the United States and Canada and supported by Genitope Corp., a Redwood City, California-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of personalized immunotherapies for the treatment of ...