Adoptive immunotherapy has evolved from the preclinical model to a potentially feasible treatment for advanced cancer.
In this trial, we give T cell infusions to cancer patients who have recurred after receiving one of our HER2 vaccines. T cell infusions involve growing patients’ own immune cells (trained to recognize HER2) into millions or billions, and then infusing them back into patients. We have completed the first arm of the study and are now enrolling to the second arm.
~Population~
Previously immunized with a TVG HER2-specific vaccine
Measurable disease that includes extraskeletal metastasis
~Treatment~
ONTAK infusion for immune conditioning
Three T-cell infusions, 10 days apart
Follow-up visit 20 days after last T-cell infusion
~Objectives~
Assess feasibility, safety, immune response, and anti-tumor effects of T cell infusions
~Visits~
Five visits total in Seattle
~Information~
Call Nicole Bates at the TVG: 866.932.8588 |
From our Director: A Call to Action for Advancing Research
Dear Friends of the Tumor Vaccine Group,
We at the TVG are fortunate to live our passions every day by working in translational research. Hunched over a lab bench or cell culture flask, sometimes it is easy to forget the real reason our work exists: to help people with cancer. In the same way, as a patient or interested citizen, it can be tough to understand what happens behind laboratory doors. But the fact is that you— America’s taxpayers— fund our grant-supported research, which means that ultimately, we are accountable to you. I believe that everyone has a role in advancing medical science, and I am asking you to help.
You don’t have to quit your day job and become a researcher, and you don’t have to donate your body to science; you can make a difference in research just by sharing your voice. That’s exactly what Patti Bradfield did several years ago. After watching her daughter die from inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), she began calling every doctor and researcher she could find to ask: why aren’t you studying IBC? Her dedication turned into action, and now our group is working to bring an IBC vaccine into clinical trials. I encourage you to do the same thing: find a topic in research you care about, find a researcher working in that field, and then make a phone call.
|
If you would like to do more than call, researchers nationwide are always looking for patients and healthy volunteers for clinical trials. While many new exciting cancer treatments are being tested in clinical studies, only about 3% of cancer patients ever enroll in a clinical trial. Without these patients’ help, we can never bring new drugs or treatments to market. Researchers also look to patients and healthy volunteers to donate blood— just a one-time blood draw can help us discover new cancer antigens and antibodies that allow us to develop new vaccines and immune therapies.
|
 |
We thank Patti Bradfield and the IBC Foundation for their passionate advocacy. |
To all those who have participated in and supported our research: thank you! Medical research is intended to serve you, and to make that happen, researchers in labs and clinics need to hear your input. I encourage you to make your voice heard, support health causes that matter to you, and play an active role in shaping the course of research.
|
Sincerely,
Mary L. (Nora) Disis, MD
Tumor Vaccine Group Founder and Director |
|
