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Karolinska (Sweden) small study of her2 DNA vaccine with GM-CSF, IL-2--conclusion
Conclusion
Our pilot study demonstrates the feasibility, safety and tolerability of Her2-pDNA vaccination in combination with GM-CSF and IL-2 in a small number of advanced breast cancer patients who are on concurrent trastuzumab treatment with findings warranting further exploration of this concept. The induction of long-lasting cellular and humoral immune responses against Her2 are encouraging and occasional patients appear to draw clinical benefit from this treatment, although this must be confirmed in further studies, at best with a randomized design. Her2-pDNA vaccines already provide a promising strategy by broadening or potentiating the response to trastuzumab administration, which is now a standard adjuvant therapy for women with Her2 overexpressing breast cancer. If our and similar vaccine strategies efficiently generate humoral Her2-specific responses, trastuzumab may later become obsolete and vaccines alone successful against early and metastatic breast cancer. This would facilitate the practical management of Her2 positive carcinomas, since trastuzumab based strategies are expensive and require time-consuming three-weekly intravenous administrations. If demonstrated to have a favorable benefit-risk ratio the vaccination approach should also be studied as a preventive strategy in high risk individuals.
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