Brain cancer vax looks promising in small trial

A small Phase I trial of an experimental dendritic cell based brain cancer vaccine advanced by ImmunoCellular Therapeutics (IMUC) has produced some unusually positive results.

Only 16 patients suffering from glioblastoma multiforme--the most common of all brain cancers - were recruited for the study. But researchers report that 18 months after treatment began, almost half of the patients were still alive without any worsening of their disease. The 12-month disease-free survival from the time of surgery was 75 percent with ICT-107, compared with the historical control of 26.9 percent, and the 18-month disease-free survival with ICT-107 was 49.2 percent, compared with 18.4 percent historically.

"We are targeting specific antigens that are on cancer stem cells ... the only population of cells that can really propagate a tumor," said Dr. John Yu, director of surgical neuro-oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and ImmunoCellular's chief scientific officer. The company's shares jumped 13 percent this morning.

- check out the release for more
- here's the story from Reuters