Replies to post #21646 on NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

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Autologous Tumor Lysate-pulsed Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy for Pediatric Patients with Newly Diagnosed or Recurrent High-grade Gliomas

http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/33/5/2047.short

Anticancer Research May 2013 vol. 33 no. 5 2047-2056

Autologous Tumor Lysate-pulsed Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy for Pediatric Patients with Newly Diagnosed or Recurrent High-grade Gliomas
JOSEPH L. LASKY III1?, EDUARD H. PANOSYAN1, ASHLEY PLANT2, TOM DAVIDSON2, WILLIAM H. YONG3, ROBERT M. PRINS4, LINDA M. LIAU4 and THEODORE B. MOORE2
+ Author Affiliations

1Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center/LA Biomed, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Torrance, CA, U.S.A.
2Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
3Department of Pathology, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
4Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Correspondence to: Joseph L. Lasky III, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Pediatrics and Neurosurgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center/LA Biomed, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA. 1000 W. Carson St. Building N-25, Box 468, Torrance, CA 90502, U.S.A. Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]
Abstract

Immunotherapy has the potential to improve clinical outcomes with little toxicity for pediatric patients with brain tumors. We conducted a pilot feasibility study of tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell (DC) vaccination in pediatric patients (1 to 18 years old) with newly diagnosed or recurrent high-grade glioma (HGG). A total of nine DC vaccine doses, each containing 1×106 cells per dose were administered to three out of the seven originally enrolled patients. Toxicities were limited to mild side-effects, except in one case of elevated alkaline phosphatase, which resolved without clinical consequences. Two patients with primary lesions amongst the three vaccinated were alive at the time of writing, both without evidence of disease. Pre- and post-vaccination tumor samples from a patient with an anaplastic oligoastrocytoma that recurred failed to demonstrate immune cell infiltration by immunohistochemistry. Peripheral cytokine levels were evaluated in one patient following DC vaccination and demonstrated some changes in relation to vaccination. DC vaccine is tolerable and feasible with some limitations for pediatric patients with HGG. Dendritic cell based immunotherapy may provide some clinical benefit in pediatric patients with glioma, especially for patients with minimal residual disease, but further investigation of this modality is required.