Home > News & reports > News > Scope 48 - Major milestones in our cancer vaccine

Scope 48 - Major milestones in our cancer vaccine

30 July 2012

1994

The arrival of Prof Franca Ronchese sees

a new direction for the Malaghan Institute –

the dawn of cancer immunotherapy research.

 

 

1996

Techniques established for growing

dendritic cells in thelaboratory.

 

 

 

1997

First demonstration that a vaccine made from dendritic

cells and tumour peptides (protein fragments), delayed the

development of cancer in a mouse model.

 

1998

The safety and feasibility of making a cancer vaccine from

a patient’s own dendritic cells and tumour fragments tested

in individuals with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

 

1999-2003

Significant progress made in defining the critical cell types,

cytokines and vaccine conditions required for optimal

anti-tumour immune responses.

 

2004

New knowledge applied to Phase III

clinical trial in patients with melanoma.

 

 

 

2006

Killing of the dendritic cells in the vaccine by the same immune cells that

eradicate the cancer identified as a reason for the promising but limited

anti-tumour immune responses elicited by the cancer vaccine to date. New

research focus launched to identify solution for this problem.

 

2007

Clinical study initiated to explore the possibility of using

immunotherapy to treat patients with chronic lymphocytic

leukaemia (CLL), the most common blood cancer in New Zealand.

 

2008

A phase I vaccine clinical trial undertaken to explore the feasibility of

usingcancer immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy to treat

patients with the aggressive brain tumour glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

 

2009-2010

Further refinement of cancer vaccine and demonstration that a compound

from marine sponges called alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer)

improved the anti-tumour immune response in mouse models.

 

2013

Safety, feasibility and efficacy of using the á-GalCer adjuvant in

combination with refined cancer vaccine will be tested in a Phase I

clinical trial for melanoma.

 

FUTURE

Use of simplified cell-free cancer vaccines that target

the activation of dendritic cells already present in patients.

 

Download the full Scope 48 newsletter - 1 MB (PDF)