Clinical Responsiveness of Glioblastoma Multiforme to Chemotherapy after Vaccination Christopher J. Wheeler, Asha Das, Gentao Liu, John S. Yu and Keith L. Black Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California ABSTRACT Purpose: Although the development of immune-based therapies for various cancers including malignant glioma has been heralded with much hope and optimism, objective clinical improvements in most vaccinated cancer patients have not been realized. To broaden the search for vaccine-induced benefits, we examined synergy of vaccines with conventional chemotherapy. Experimental Design: Survival and progression times were analyzed retrospectively in 25 vaccinated (13 with and 12 without subsequent chemotherapy) and 13 nonvaccinated de novo glioblastoma (GBM) patients receiving chemotherapy. Immune responsiveness and T-cell receptor excision circle (TREC) content within CD8+ T cells (CD8+ TRECs) was determined in vaccinated patients. Results: Vaccinated patients receiving subsequent chemotherapy exhibited significantly longer times to tumor recurrence after chemotherapy relative to their own previous recurrence times, as well as significantly longer postchemotherapy recurrence times and survival relative to patients receiving isolated vaccination or chemotherapy. Patients exhibiting objective (>50%) tumor regression, extremely rare in de novo GBM, were also confined to the vaccine + chemotherapy group. Prior tumor behavior, demographic factors, other treatment variables, distribution of vaccine responders, and patients with high CD8+ TRECs all failed to account for these differences in clinical outcome. Within all GBM patients receiving post-vaccine chemotherapy, however, CD8+ TRECs predicted significantly longer chemotherapeutic responses, revealing a strong link between the predominant T-cell effectors in GBM and tumor chemosensitivity. Conclusions: We propose that therapeutic vaccination synergizes with subsequent chemotherapy to elicit tangible clinical benefits for GBM patients. Clinical Cancer Research Vol. 10, 5316-5326, August 15, 2004 Comment from virtualcancercentre.com: "Treating patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with dendritic cell immunotherapy seems to sensitize the tumor to subsequent chemotherapy, according to a study by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles". Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.