The first human cancer vaccine to receive FDA approval may be used to treat prostate cancer in certain patients.
Topics Covered:
Approved immunotherapeutic agents
Combination therapy/treatment algorithms
Clinical trials
Approved immunotherapeutic agents (for prostate cancer)
Sipuleucel-T (Provenge, Dendreon), a therapeutic cancer vaccine, received FDA approval in 2010 for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer that is resistant to treatment with hormone therapy (also known as “castration-resistant”). Sipuleucel-T is the first human cancer treatment vaccine to receive FDA approval. The treatment is personalized, using a patient’s own immune cells to create an immunostimulatory vaccine (Figure 2).
Figure 2. The process of creating sipuleucel-T.
Sipuleucel-T is recommended for the treatment of hormone therapy-resistant metastatic prostate cancer in men who are asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic, have a life expectancy greater than 6 months, have a good performance status and have no liver metastases.
Prostate cancer combination therapy/treatment algorithms
Sipuleucel-T is not currently recommended as part of a combination therapy regimen. Patients who do not qualify for treatment with sipuleucel-T should be treated with docetaxel or cabazitaxel (Jevtana, Sanofi-Aventis) and prednisone.
Current clinical trials for prostate cancer
Rilimogene galvacirepvec/rilimogene glafolivec (Prostvac, Bavarian Nordic) is a cancer vaccine that is currently being investigated in a phase 3 trial for the treatment of metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer.
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