Physicians at HonorHealth Research Institute have begun a clinical trial of a new treatment for advanced melanoma, using the immune system's dendritic cells to create a vaccine, according to an Aug. 11 announcement.
The vaccine, DOC1021, is described as a first-in-class immunotherapy for patients whose melanoma is resistant to current treatments and either cannot be removed by surgery or has spread to other organs. "Vaccines have historically been limited in cancer. They're often not potent enough for patients with metastatic disease," said Justin Moser, M.D., the clinical trial's principal investigator and associate clinical investigator in the Research Institute's Oncology Research Division. "I hope this approach will be able to overcome the limitations of prior vaccines and work for patients with metastatic disease," said Moser, who also holds academic positions at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix and Arizona State University's John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering.
HonorHealth Research Institute is among only a few facilities nationwide offering this clinical trial using DOC1021, also known as dubodencel, which is produced by Houston-based Diakonos Oncology. Melanoma is an aggressive cancer that most commonly originates in the skin but can also arise in mucosal surfaces such as those lining the ears, nose, lungs, mouth, and digestive tract.
The vaccine uses a patient's own dendritic cells—immune cells that help recognize threats—combined with mRNA and proteins from biopsied tumor cells to target cancer specifically. Previously, this type of vaccine was used successfully in another clinical trial treating glioblastoma (GBM), a common brain tumor.
Joseph Georges, D.O., Ph.D., neurosurgeon at Scottsdale Neurosurgery Specialists on HonorHealth's Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center campus, participated in pre-clinical studies supporting similar technology against GBM. Initial phases resulted in some patients surviving more than two or three years without adverse effects—well beyond average survival rates for GBM. "We started seeing promising results, and indications that it might work against other cancers. Melanoma was high on the list because it has been shown that modifications in the immune system could more effectively treat that cancer," Georges said.
Another ongoing HonorHealth trial uses Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) therapy; however, unlike TILs—which require chemotherapy—the dendritic cell-based vaccine directly trains immune cells without additional treatments. "The vaccine trains the immune cells to recognize the cancer as if it were an infection," Moser said. Georges added, "Because this vaccine is double-loaded with both mRNA and protein from the tumor... we generate an almost 10-fold increase in the immune response." Researchers are now expanding this approach to target other cancers including pancreatic cancer.
