Cancer researchers from Heidelberg have been able to develop a IDH1 R123H mutation-specific vaccine. In the journal “Nature”. Platten and his co-workers report that the vaccine arrested tumor growth in mice. Moreover, they now have made the first successful step toward a vaccine that specifically targets the mutation in the tumor. “In some patients with low-grade glioma we found spontaneous immune responses against altered IDH1,” Platten says. “This is a good sign; it suggests that vaccinations based on the peptide can in fact support the body’s own immune system in fighting cancer cells.” This gives a “vaccination therapy” good chances of success, according to the Heidelberg physicians. In a clinical trial scheduled to start early next year, they plan to examine the safety of the vaccine against gliomas based on mutant IDH1 in human patients, for the first time. “Most low-grade gliomas cannot be removed completely by surgery and thus often recur,” says Prof. Wolfgang Wick, Medical Director of the Department of Neurooncology and head of the Clinical Cooperation Unit “Neurooncology” at the DKFZ. “Patients would therefore benefit tremendously from a vaccine that prevents this from happening.”

Reference:
Schumacher et al. A vaccine targeting mutant IDH1 induces antitumour immunity
Nature 2014, DOI: 10.1038/nature13387

Joint press release
of the German Cancer Research Center and the Heidelberg University Hospital