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Glioblastoma vaccine offered better survival rates than standard care

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The heat shock protein-peptide complex-96 vaccine significantly increased PFS and OS in patients with glioblastoma multiforme compared with standard care alone, according to results of a phase 2 clinical trial presented at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons meeting.

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor and comprises most diagnoses. Current treatments can prolong survival — about a third of patients survive 1 year and 4.5% survive to 5 years — but they are not curative. Most patients experience recurrent disease at a median of 7 months.

 

Andrew T. Parsa

Andrew T. Parsa, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the department of neurological surgery at the Brain Tumor Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted the investigation to determine the efficacy of the heat shock protein-peptide complex-96 (HSPPC-96; Prophage G-100, Agenus Inc.) vaccine. They assigned 46 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme to receive the HSPPC-96 vaccination in addition to standard care of radiation and temozolomide.

Median PFS was 17 months, more than double the 6.9 months demonstrated in prior studies for radiation and temozolomide alone.

Median OS in patients treated with the vaccine was 23.3 months at the time of analysis, but most of the enrolled patients in the trial were still being followed. Prior studies demonstrated treatment with radiation and temozolomide alone was associated with a median OS of 14.6 months.

“Cancer vaccines offer the hope of benefit without toxicity for patients with glioblastoma,” Parsa said in a press release. “Data from the HSPPC-96 trials have been consistently positive in both recurrent and newly diagnosed [glioblastoma multiforme] settings, supporting the premise that this vaccine may one day become part of the standard of care. We are now advancing HSPPC-96 in recurrent [glioblastoma multiforme] in the largest, randomized brain tumor trial ever funded by the NCI and the largest vaccine study ever conducted with Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech).”

For more information:

Bloch O. Abstract #801. Presented at: American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting; April 27-May 1, 2013; New Orleans.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.