Clinical trials for personalised cancer vaccine used to tackle aggressive brain tumours in young adults and adolescents launched by UCLA Health

Natalia Elliot | August 6, 2024 | News story | Research and Development |  Oncology, UCLA Health, adolescent cancer, brain tumour, cancer vaccine, clinical trial 

Today, researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have announced that they are launching a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a cancer vaccine.  The vaccine targets H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma, an aggressive brain tumour typically found in adolescents and young people.

The goal of the trial is to improve survival rates in patients diagnosed with H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma, as well as provide new insights into how the immune system responds to primary brain cancers. The trial begins with patients who are over 18 years old, eventually expanding to patients as young as five. All patients have a confirmed diagnosis of H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma.

 “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.” Said Dr Anthony Wang, principal investigator of the trial and director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Program at UCLA Health.

Dr Linda Lau, chair of neurosurgery at UCLA Health, added :“This clinical trial represents a novel and potentially transformative approach to treating high-grade gliomas in children and young adults. We are optimistic that this research could lead to more advanced studies and eventually a new standard of care for this challenging subtype of brain cancer.” 

Funding for the clinical trial includes sources such as the US Department of Defence, donors supporting the UCLA Pediatric Brain Tumor Program, and the National Institutes of Health.

Natalia Elliot