Glioma Clinical Trial
In 2006 the Malaghan Institute received ethics committee approval to evaluate the possibility of using dendritic cell-based vaccines to treat patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (or glioma), a highly aggressive brain cancer with a 100 % fatality rate.
Dendritic cells are a rare group of immune cells in the body that can activate T cells, considered the foot soldiers of the immune response, to destroy cancer tissue.
The goal of the phase I glioma clinical trial is to test the feasibility and safety of using dendritic cell vaccines in combination with standard chemotherapy for the treatment of this devastating disease. It is anticipated that the trial will be initiated in late 2008.
The glioma trial is the culmination of over a decade of basic cancer immunotherapy research at the Malaghan Institute and is being overseen by the Head of the Institute's Vaccine Research Group, Dr Ian Hermans, in collaboration with Wellington Hospital neurosurgeon Mr Martin Hunn.
It is anticipated that the glioma clinical trial will involve 12-17 patients from the greater Wellington region that meet a strict set of eligibility criteria. The vaccine will be generated from dendritic cells isolated from the patient's blood that are loaded with pieces of their surgically-removed tumour.
The patients will initially receive several vaccine treatments over a six week period, before being given the chemotherapy drug temozolomide. Once chemotherapy has been started, the vaccines will then be given to the patients monthly over the following two years.
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For more information, please contact:
Catherine Wood
Trial Coordinator
Tel: +64 4 385 5926
Email: cwood@malaghan.org.nz
Dr Ian Hermans
Vaccine Research Group Leader
Tel: +64 4 499 6914
Email: ihermans@malaghan.org.nz
Evelyn Bauer
Clinical Trials Production Manager
Tel: +64 4 499 6914
Email: ebauer@malaghan.org.nz
