US researchers reveal positive results of personalised vaccine for liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Convergence Institute have revealed promising results of a personalised vaccine for liver cancer in a clinical trial.

Results from the study were published in Nature Medicine and were recently presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting.

Recognised as the most common type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally, with fewer than one in ten patients surviving five years after diagnosis.

Researchers took tumour biopsy cells from 36 HCC patients to identify cancer-associated genetic mutations in the tumour to manufacture a personalised vaccine containing DNA for selected mutated genes.

Involving 36 patients living with HCC, investigators added a personalised anti-tumour vaccine to Merck & Co’s – known as MSD outside the US and Canada – PD-1 inhibitor therapy, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), a standard immunotherapy.

The personalised vaccine works by helping the immune system recognise abnormal proteins in the selected genes and destroy the cells producing them.

Sponsored by Geneos Therapeutics, results from the preliminary clinical trial demonstrated that nearly one-third of patients treated with the combination therapy saw their tumours shrink significantly, around twice as much as HCC patients receiving anti-PD-1 therapy alone in separate studies.

In addition, around 8% of patients had a complete response, with no evidence of tumour left after the combination treatment and no serious adverse events reported.

By combining the personalised vaccine with the PD-1 inhibitor, the immune cells known as T-cells are revived in the tumour to target the specific mutant proteins in the tumour.

Mark Yarchoan, associate professor, oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: “The role of personalised cancer vaccines is expanding” and this “study provides evidence that a personalised cancer vaccine can enhance clinical responses to anti-PD-1 therapy”.

“A larger randomised clinical trial will be needed to confirm this finding, but the results are incredibly exciting,” added Yarchoan.