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Clinical Trial
. 2018 May 29;16(1):142.
doi: 10.1186/s12967-018-1507-6.

First results on survival from a large Phase 3 clinical trial of an autologous dendritic cell vaccine in newly diagnosed glioblastoma

Linda M Liau  1 Keyoumars Ashkan  2 David D Tran  3 Jian L Campian  4 John E Trusheim  5 Charles S Cobbs  6 Jason A Heth  7 Michael Salacz  8 Sarah Taylor  8 Stacy D D'Andre  9 Fabio M Iwamoto  10 Edward J Dropcho  11 Yaron A Moshel  12 Kevin A Walter  13 Clement P Pillainayagam  14 Robert Aiken  15 Rekha Chaudhary  16 Samuel A Goldlust  17 Daniela A Bota  18 Paul Duic  19 Jai Grewal  20 Heinrich Elinzano  21 Steven A Toms  21 Kevin O Lillehei  22 Tom Mikkelsen  23 Tobias Walbert  23 Steven R Abram  24 Andrew J Brenner  25 Steven Brem  26 Matthew G Ewend  27 Simon Khagi  27 Jana Portnow  28 Lyndon J Kim  29 William G Loudon  30 Reid C Thompson  31 David E Avigan  32 Karen L Fink  33 Francois J Geoffroy  34 Scott Lindhorst  35 Jose Lutzky  36 Andrew E Sloan  37 Gabriele Schackert  38 Dietmar Krex  38 Hans-Jorg Meisel  39 Julian Wu  40 Raphael P Davis  41 Christopher Duma  42 Arnold B Etame  43 David Mathieu  44 Santosh Kesari  45 David Piccioni  45 Manfred Westphal  46 David S Baskin  47 Pamela Z New  47 Michel Lacroix  48 Sven-Axel May  49 Timothy J Pluard  50 Victor Tse  51 Richard M Green  52 John L Villano  53 Michael Pearlman  54 Kevin Petrecca  55 Michael Schulder  56 Lynne P Taylor  57 Anthony E Maida  58 Robert M Prins  59 Timothy F Cloughesy  59 Paul Mulholland  60 Marnix L Bosch  61
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

First results on survival from a large Phase 3 clinical trial of an autologous dendritic cell vaccine in newly diagnosed glioblastoma

Linda M Liau et al. J Transl Med. .

Erratum in

  • Correction to: First results on survival from a large Phase 3 clinical trial of an autologous dendritic cell vaccine in newly diagnosed glioblastoma.
    Liau LM, Ashkan K, Tran DD, Campian JL, Trusheim JE, Cobbs CS, Heth JA, Salacz M, Taylor S, D'Andre SD, Iwamoto FM, Dropcho EJ, Moshel YA, Walter KA, Pillainayagam CP, Aiken R, Chaudhary R, Goldlust SA, Bota DA, Duic P, Grewal J, Elinzano H, Toms SA, Lillehei KO, Mikkelsen T, Walbert T, Abram SR, Brenner AJ, Brem S, Ewend MG, Khagi S, Portnow J, Kim LJ, Loudon WG, Thompson RC, Avigan DE, Fink KL, Geoffroy FJ, Lindhorst S, Lutzky J, Sloan AE, Schackert G, Krex D, Meisel HJ, Wu J, Davis RP, Duma C, Etame AB, Mathieu D, Kesari S, Piccioni D, Westphal M, Baskin DS, New PZ, Lacroix M, May SA, Pluard TJ, Tse V, Green RM, Villano JL, Pearlman M, Petrecca K, Schulder M, Taylor LP, Maida AE, Prins RM, Cloughesy TF, Mulholland P, Bosch ML. Liau LM, et al. J Transl Med. 2018 Jun 29;16(1):179. doi: 10.1186/s12967-018-1552-1. J Transl Med. 2018. PMID: 29958537 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Background: Standard therapy for glioblastoma includes surgery, radiotherapy, and temozolomide. This Phase 3 trial evaluates the addition of an autologous tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine (DCVax®-L) to standard therapy for newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

Methods: After surgery and chemoradiotherapy, patients were randomized (2:1) to receive temozolomide plus DCVax-L (n = 232) or temozolomide and placebo (n = 99). Following recurrence, all patients were allowed to receive DCVax-L, without unblinding. The primary endpoint was progression free survival (PFS); the secondary endpoint was overall survival (OS).

Results: For the intent-to-treat (ITT) population (n = 331), median OS (mOS) was 23.1 months from surgery. Because of the cross-over trial design, nearly 90% of the ITT population received DCVax-L. For patients with methylated MGMT (n = 131), mOS was 34.7 months from surgery, with a 3-year survival of 46.4%. As of this analysis, 223 patients are ≥ 30 months past their surgery date; 67 of these (30.0%) have lived ≥ 30 months and have a Kaplan-Meier (KM)-derived mOS of 46.5 months. 182 patients are ≥ 36 months past surgery; 44 of these (24.2%) have lived ≥ 36 months and have a KM-derived mOS of 88.2 months. A population of extended survivors (n = 100) with mOS of 40.5 months, not explained by known prognostic factors, will be analyzed further. Only 2.1% of ITT patients (n = 7) had a grade 3 or 4 adverse event that was deemed at least possibly related to the vaccine. Overall adverse events with DCVax were comparable to standard therapy alone.

Conclusions: Addition of DCVax-L to standard therapy is feasible and safe in glioblastoma patients, and may extend survival. Trial registration Funded by Northwest Biotherapeutics; Clinicaltrials.gov number: NCT00045968; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00045968?term=NCT00045968&rank=1 ; initially registered 19 September 2002.

Keywords: Dendritic cell; Glioblastoma; Immunotherapy; Vaccine.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Recruitment, inclusion, and randomization of patients in the study. (1) Patients are screened prior to surgery, so glioblastoma (GBM) determination is made from pathological diagnosis after surgery. (2) Insufficient tumor lysate generated to meet threshold. (3) Progressive disease or pseudo-progression (which are indistinguishable at this point) based on central review of MRI imaging at baseline post-chemoradiation. (4) Patients who consented to tumor donation but then declined participation in trial prior to leukapheresis. (5) Includes deviations from standard chemoradiation protocol, history of prior malignancy, inadequate renal or bone marrow function, etc. (6) Includes drug product failure or insufficient drug or placebo manufactured to meet release criteria. (7) Includes clinical deterioration, declining Karnofsky performance status, or patient deaths. (8) Includes biopsy only, surgery canceled, or tumor tissue not processed after surgery
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Overall survival curves for patients in the intent-to-treat population. Overall survival analyses of time from date of surgery until death or last follow-up according to the Kaplan–Meier method for all patients in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population (a), and the ITT population stratified by MGMT gene promoter methylation status (b). Censored patients are annotated by a small vertical line

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