APRIL 11, 2018, New York — A Ludwig Cancer Research study has shown that an entirely new type of personalized cancer vaccine induces novel, potent and clinically effective immune responses in patients receiving a combination of standard therapies for recurrent, stage III and IV ovarian cancer.

Led by Lana Kandalaft, George Coukos and Alexandre Harari of the Lausanne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the study also found that the vaccine—made from a processed sample of a patient’s tumor and delivered via that patient’s own immune cells—is well tolerated, safely administered and can be made in sufficient quantities with relative ease. Further, the researchers show that the immune responses it elicits are vigorous and target both known cancer antigens as well as a broad variety of the unique antigens, or “neoantigens”, expressed by each patient’s cancer cells.

Full article