Katharina Buczek
“These findings support the promise of this second-generate melanoma vaccine for prolonging survival of patients after surgery for high-risk melanoma,” said Craig L. Slingluff, a surgical oncologist and translational immunologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and UVA Health.
“We hope that we can make this available to patients in addition to other effective immune therapies so that they may have even greater benefit than either treatment alone.”
The study also explored administering cyclophosphamide, a chemotherapy agent, prior to the vaccine as a strategy to potentially boost its efficacy.
Cyclophosphamide was thought to decrease the population of regulatory T cells that typically hinder the immune system’s ability to fight tumors, thereby making the vaccine more effective.
Although the impact of cyclophosphamide was minimal on the whole study group, further examination indicated that it could greatly benefit certain subgroups, especially when used in conjunction with the vaccine designed to activate both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells.
Now, the team’s findings have significant implications. Primarily, they underscore the concept that effectively fighting melanoma, and potentially other types of cancer, demands a comprehensive approach that engages the entire range of the body’s immune defenses.
Furthermore, they pave the way for innovative treatment combinations, including vaccines and checkpoint inhibitors, which have proven effective against various cancer forms.
The only remaining question is why this new cancer vaccine doesn’t offer the same advantages to women.
“The differences in benefit based on age and biologic [gender] highlight the need to understand reasons for those differences so that we can provide the same benefit for all patients,” concluded Slingluff.
“We are excited to build on these exciting findings.”
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Nature Communications, visit the link here.
