Dendritic cell vaccination has shown potential in extending the lives of patients with other cancers, such as glioblastoma. Credit: Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash.

UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center is set to initiate a clinical trial of a personalised cancer vaccine aimed at combating aggressive brain tumours in adolescents and young adults.

The vaccine, developed at UCLA, specifically targets H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma.

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It operates by equipping the dendritic cells of the patient to recognise and attack the altered RNA regulation characteristic of this cancer type. These primed dendritic cells are then reintroduced into the patient’s body.

The trial is designed to assess the vaccine’s safety and efficacy in young patients with diffuse hemispheric glioma.

It will initially include patients aged over 18 years and eventually extend to children as young as five years with a confirmed H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma diagnosis.

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The study is supported by a grant from the US Department of Defense and seeks to enhance survival rates while providing insights into the immune system’s response to primary brain cancers.

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The mutation in question occurs in the H3-3A gene, which disrupts RNA processing and influences the tumour’s behaviour and treatment response, UCLA noted. 

Dendritic cell vaccination has shown the potential to extend the lives of patients with other cancers such as glioblastoma.

Manufacturing of the vaccine will be conducted at the UCLA Human Gene and Cell Therapy Facility.

UCLA Health Pediatric Brain Tumor Program director and trial principal investigator Dr Anthony Wang said: “Despite aggressive treatments, this type of brain tumour evades current therapies with shocking efficiency.

“These cancers show a host of escape pathways, allowing small populations of cells to survive initial treatment and to adapt. The data from our pre-clinical studies makes us hopeful that an active, targeted cancer vaccine will be able to adapt with the tumour, in order to eliminate cancer cells more effectively.”