Dendritic cell vaccine immunotherapy in paediatric high grade glioma

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Investigation of dendritic cell vaccine immunotherapy in paediatric high grade glioma

• IRAS ID

  45310

• Contact name

  John Anderson

• Sponsor organisation

  Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust

• Eudract number

  2010-018447-34

• ISRCTN Number

  Not Sent

• Research summary

  This phase I/II trial will assess the safety and efficacy (based primarily on immunological rather than clinical endpoints) of tumour lysate pulsed dendritic cell vaccines in paediatric patients with a primary diagnosis of high grade glioma (although excluding brain-stem glioma). The principle of anti cancer immunotherapy is to generate potent anti tumour responses, resulting in the generation of effector cells capable of specifically killing tumour cells. In diseases such as melanoma this approach has been used successfully to generate responses against defined tumour associated antigens. An alternative approach, for tumours in which TAAs have either not been defined, or are not sufficiently immunogenic, is to generate responses against a number of different but undefined tumour antigens using a tumour lystate (sample of total soluble protein) from the patient’s own tumour. Potent antigen presentation is then required to generate a strong response. Dendritic cells are powerful antigen presenting cells and advances in cell culture techniques allow potent and specific responses to be generated following ex vivo priming of a patient’s own DCs. Dendritic cell vaccines will be given in the context of the current standard multimodal treatment, including surgical resection, involved field radiotherapy and chemotherapy with temozolomide. Patients with relapsed HGG will also be eligible for inclusion and will receive DC vaccines alongside standard treatment of temozolomide chemotherapy. As well as addressing questions of the safety and efficacy of such a vaccination strategy in the setting of ongoing chemotherapy, the study will also provide data relevant to answering questions about the optimal way to activate autologous dendritic cells in the laboratory. A crossover design will be utilised so that immune responses to DC vaccines generated in two different ways can be compared both within the same patient and between patients.

• REC name

  London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  10/H0713/55

• Date of REC Opinion

  21 Feb 2011

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion