The study tested a neoantigen-targeting personalized cancer vaccine in patients with high-risk, fully resected clear cell renal cell carcinoma — a type of kidney cancer. After undergoing tumor-removing surgery, the patients received their personalized vaccine at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Standard treatment for these patients is surgery to remove the tumor followed by pembrolizumab (Keytruda), but two-thirds of patients face cancer recurrence, according to a news release from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
About three years after the vaccine administration, all patients remained cancer-free. No dose-limiting toxicities were observed, either, from the initial doses and two booster shots.
Larger clinical trials are needed to confirm the vaccine’s efficacy, the researchers said.
Nature published the phase 1 results Feb. 5.