Vaccine in works for recurring brain tumors.

• Position: Glioblastoma Multiforme - Brief article

An early-phase clinical trial of an experimental vaccine that targets cancer stem cells in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor, has been launched by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, Calif.

Like normal stem cells, cancer stem cells have the ability to self-renew and generate new cells but, instead of producing healthy cells, they create cancer cells. In theory, if the cancer stem cells can be destroyed, a tumor may not be able to sustain itself but, if the cancer originators are not removed or destroyed, a tumor will continue to return despite the use of existing cancer-killing therapies.

The Phase I study, which will last two years, evaluates safety and dosing of a vaccine created individually for each participant and designed to boost the immune system's natural ability to protect the body against foreign invaders called antigens. The drug targets a protein, CD133, found on cancer stem cells of some brain tumors and other cancers.

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