Immunological factors influencing clinical outcome in lung cancer patients after telomerase peptide vaccination

Abstract We have previously reported two trials in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) evaluating vaccine therapy with the telomerase peptide GV1001. The studies demonstrated considerable differences in survival among immune responders, highlighting that an immune response is not necessarily beneficial. In the present study, we conducted long-term clinical follow-up and investigated immunological factors hypothesized to influence clinical efficacy. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 33 NSCLC trial patients and 15 healthy donors were analyzed by flow cytometry for T regulatory cells (Tregs, CD4+CD25+CD127low/−FOXP3+) and two types of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs, HLA-DR low CD14 + or Lin −/lo HLA-DR − CD33 + CD11b +). T cell cultures were analyzed for 17 cytokines. The results demonstrated that immune responders had increased overall survival (OS, p < 0.001) and progression-free survival (p = 0.003), compared to subjects without immunological response. The mean OS advantage was 54 versus 13 months. Six patients were still alive at the last clinical update, all belongi...
Source: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research