STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (UroToday.com) - In this study, the group performed a phase I/II clinical trial of dendritic cell-based immunotherapy in prostate cancer patients with biochemical recurrence (BR). Primary goal of their study was to assess the safety, with secondary goals being PSA kinetics and presence of tumor antigen-specific immune response in the peripheral blood. They included 20 patients who showed BR after radical prostatectomy and salvage radiotherapy. Study medication consisted of 12 doses of 1x107 dendritic cells pulsed with killed prostate cancer cell line LNCap (DCVAC/PCa), injected subcutaneously in 4-weeks intervals.
They reported that administration of DCVAC/PCa did not cause any significant side effects among 20 patients. Continuous cancer immunotherapy by DCVAC/PCa significantly prolonged the PSA doubling time (PSA-DT) in all treated patients (mean 3.43 fold increase). Seven of 20 patients had stable PSA levels during the course of treatment. Mean PSA-DT increased from 8.15 months before the initiation of cancer immunotherapy to 52.64 months at the completion of 12 doses (p < 0.0015). Moreover, sustained T cell responses against PSA, NY-ESO1, MAGE A1, and MAGE A3 were detected in the peripheral blood of enrolled patients.
In prostate cancer, using ultrasensitive PSA, the effect of cancer immunotherapy at the minimal residual disease stage can be evaluated in patients with biochemical recurrence. In this study, authors show that continuous cancer immunotherapy with dendritic cells, loaded with killed LNCAP cell line, can potentially be a mode of treatment for prostate cancer patients with biochemical recurrence.
Presented by L. J. Jarolim at the 29th Annual European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress - April 11 - 15, 2014 - Stockholmsmässan - Stockholm, Sweden.
Charles University, Department of Urology, Prague 5, Czech Republic
Written by Reza Mehrazin, MD, medical writer for UroToday.com
