The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has been a key player in a groundbreaking study that has shown a cancer vaccine can slow down the progression of liver cancer.
The clinical trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, explored how dendritic cell (DC) vaccines can enhance the effectiveness of standard treatments in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, a common type of liver cancer.
DCs are immune cells that help the body to recognise and attack cancer cells and the study added a DC vaccine to standard treatment to see if patient outcomes were improved. The vaccine was made from the patients’ own white blood cells, grown in a lab with proteins from cancer cells to stimulate an immune response in the individual.
The 48 patients who participated in the clinical trial, from Clatterbridge, Aintree University Hospital and hospitals in Birmingham and Nottingham, received either standard treatment alone or standard treatment plus the DC vaccine.
The study, led by the University of Birmingham, found that patients who received the DC vaccine alongside standard treatment experienced a longer period without the tumour getting worse compared to those who only received the standard treatment.
The results of the ImmunoTACE trial, published in Clinical Cancer Research, showed improved progression-free survival for patients who received the DC vaccine along with their usual treatment.
This trial is the first of its kind to demonstrate that a cell-based vaccine using lab-grown dendritic cells can improve outcomes for liver cancer patients, with the study showing that this combined approach could be both affordable and effective.
Professor David Adams, Chief Investigator of the study and Emeritus Professor of Hepatology at the University of Birmingham, said: “The results from this phase 2 trial are very promising and offer a potential new treatment option for patients with primary liver cancer, one of the highest causes of cancer-related death worldwide.”
Liver cancer consultant, Professor Dan Palmer, who led the Clatterbridge arm of the study, said: “These promising findings suggest that DC vaccines could become a valuable addition to liver cancer treatment, offering new hope for patients, and more studies will explore the potential of this innovative approach.”
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is a leading NHS research hospital and has expertise in cancer vaccines research. More than a dozen clinical trials of the personalised vaccines in various tumour types are currently underway.
