Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, 825 Eastlake Ave E. G4-810, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States.
Sipuleucel-T (PROVENGE) is the first therapeutic cancer vaccine approved by the FDA. In men who have metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with no or minimal symptoms, sipuleucel-T prolongs median survival by 4.1 months compared to those treated with placebo. At 3 years, the proportion of patients in the vaccine group who were alive was 50% higher than that in the control group (31.7% vs. 21.7%, respectively). Sipuleucel-T, designed to elicit an immune response to prostatic acid phosphatase, uses the patient's own immune system to recognize and combat his cancer. Currently, there are no other agents that offer a survival benefit in this population of asymptomatic patients who have not been treated with chemotherapy except docetaxel, which due to its inherent toxicities, many patients and physicians often delay until symptoms develop. Straightforward strategies to increase the efficacy of sipuleucel-T are likely to provide even greater benefit. The preclinical and clinical development of sipuleucel-T is reviewed and approaches to enhance efficacy are considered herein.
Written by:
Cheever MA, Higano C. Are you the author?
Reference: Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Apr 6. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3126
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21471425
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