Tumor Vaccines for Lung Cancer

Julie R. Brahmer, MD, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses tumor vaccines for patients with lung cancer.

Brahmer says several lung cancer tumor vaccines are currently in phase II or phase III trials and physicians are eager to hear if they will improve patient survival.

During the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting, it was announced that the BLP-MUC1 vaccine did not seem to improve survival in patients who received chemotherapy and radiation sequentially. However, patients who received a combination of chemotherapy and radiation seemed to do better when also receiving the vaccine compared to placebo, Brahmer says.

A trial looking at the MAGE-3 vaccine in an adjuvant setting is one of the largest studies done in lung cancer. Brahmer hopes that the MAGE-3 vaccine will be the next tumor vaccine to be approved for lung cancer.

Clinical Pearls

• There are several lung cancer tumor vaccines in phase II or phase III trials
• According to a clinical trial, patients who received the BLP-MUC1 vaccine in addition to a combination treatment of chemotherapy and radiation did better compared to placebo
• The MAGE-3 vaccine is under investigation for use in patients with lung cancer in the adjuvant setting