A therapeutic vaccine can boost antibodies and T cells, helping them infiltrate tumors and fight off human papillomavirus (HPV)-related head and neck cancer, according to researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They tested the immunotherapy approach in two groups of patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCCa) and found 86% showed elevated T cell activity. Their findings appear in a Clinical Cancer Research paper published today.
HNSCCa is a cancer that develops in the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat. Smoking and tobacco use are known causes, but the number of cases related to HPV infection is among the fastest growing cancer types. The CDC estimates 70% of all head and neck cancers in the United States are now HPV-related.
"We wanted to know if this vaccine can boost the immune systems of patients with HPV-related head and neck cancer, potentially opening the door for better response rates to other existing therapies, and our findings show that we can," said the study's lead author Charu Aggarwal, M.D., MPH, an assistant professor of hematology-oncology.
Researchers gave four doses of MEDI0457 to 21 patients separated into two different groups. One group received a dose before surgery, followed by three doses after surgery. The second group received four doses following chemotherapy and radiation. Eighteen out of the 21 patients showed elevated T cell activity that lasted at least three months after the final vaccine dose, meaning the immune effect persisted for at least six months from the start of immunotherapy. Five tumors were biopsied both before and after one dose of the vaccine, and there was evidence of T cells reacting with antigens contained in the vaccine in all five "after" samples.
"We have not seen that kind of infiltration with just one dose of a vaccine before," Aggarwal said. "These findings open the door for utilizing targeted immunotherapy approaches against specific cancer causing targets like HPV.”