BLP25 liposomal vaccine (Stimuvax) trial for non small cell lung cancer
I have read about a trial using the BLP25 vaccine for lung cancer. Can you tell me more about this trial and if it is available in the UK?
This page tells you about BLP25 vaccine. There is information about
BLP25, also called Stimuvax, is a vaccine that was orginally developed by scientists at Cancer Research UK. It was further developed by Biomira, and has been tested in small trials. It is now being tested in a worldwide clinical trial called the START trial ( Stimulating Target Antigenic Responses To non small cell lung cancer - NSCLC.
Cancer vaccines are a new type of treatment doctors are testing for many different types of cancer. Most cancer vaccines are still largely unproven. They are available only in clinical trials.
Cancer vaccines are designed to try to stimulate the body's own immune system to fight cancer. The immune system naturally attacks 'foreign' cells that invade the body, such as bacteria and viruses. But cancer develops originally from normal body cells. So the patient’s own immune system does not think that the cancer cells are foreign and does not try to get rid of them. The aim of this vaccine is to help the immune system to spot cancer cells. Cancer vaccines are a type of biological therapy.
There is a molecule called MUC-1 on the surface of many cells in the body. Several types of cancer cells, including lung cancer cells, make too much MUC-1. Normally, the immune system doesn’t spot this. But the BLP25 vaccine is designed to make the immune system recognise the abnormal amount of MUC-1 on cancer cells as a target to attack. The researchers hope that this will increase the amount of attacks on cancer cells, while not harming normal cells.
One early trial by Merck and Biomira reported in October 2004. The trial involved 171 patients with advanced lung cancer. Patients came from Canada and four centres in the UK. Half the patients had standard treatment for non small cell lung cancer and the other half had standard treatment plus the BLP25 vaccine.
Results from this trial were promising, particularly for the people on the study who had advanced stage lung cancer that had not spread to other parts of the body. And there were no significant side effects with the vaccine either.
Although these results are promising, it is important to remember that the BLP25 lung cancer vaccine is still not a proven treatment for people with non small cell lung cancer. Until we have results from larger trials, the best treatment for non small cell lung cancer is still surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or a combination of these, depending on the stage of the lung cancer.
The large phase 3 trial called START (stimulated targeted antigenic responses to NCSLC) has begun and will recruit about 1,300 people with stage 3 non small cell lung cancer from various countries around the world.
It is a randomised trial. The people taking part will be put into treatment groups by a computer. Neither you nor your doctor will be able to decide which group you are in. As with the earlier trial, everyone taking part will have standard treatment. Two out of every three people taking part will also have stimuvax vaccine injections. While this trial is recruiting patients in the UK it will be listed on our clinical trials database. Pick 'lung: non small cell" from the drop down menu of cancer types. Or type 'stimuvax' into the 'free text search' box.
In trials so far the most common side effect was redness and soreness of the injection area. Other common side effects included a cough, tiredness, and breathlessness. Some people also had nausea or chest pain. In some patients the side effects reduced after a few weeks but for some the cough and tiredness continued for the whole time they were having the treatment.
BLP25 is still a new treatment and is not licensed yet. It is not currently available outside clinical trials.
There is more information about treating lung cancer in the lung cancer section of CancerHelp UK.
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