If this is not your name, click here.
| | If this is not your name, click here. | | |
| | Contact Us | Order Now | Journals | Bookstore | Register a colleague | | |
| |  Novel Immunotherapy Improves Survival in Children With Neuroblastoma: Presented at ASCO By Bruce Sylvester ORLANDO, Fla -- June 3, 2009 -- An antibody-based immunotherapy reduces the risk of relapse and improves overall survival by 20% in children with high-risk neuroblastoma, researchers reported here on June 2 at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). "This is the first time an antibody targeting a glycolipid is shown to be effective for immunotherapy of cancer," said presenter and lead investigator Alice Yu, MD, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the UCSD Moores Cancer Center, San Diego, California. As background, the authors noted that the novel antibody-GD2 monoclonal antibody ch14.18 has shown preclinical and early phase clinical activity against neuroblastoma, with enhanced preclinical efficacy when combined with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or interleukin-2 (IL-2). In this phase 3 study, the investigators sought to determine whether adding ch14.18 plus GM-CSF and IL-2 to standard therapy of surgery, intensive chemotherapy with stem cell rescue, and radiation would increase survival. The investigators compared event-free survival and overall survival between 2 cohorts of patients. The first group comprised 113 children newly diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma who responded to induction chemotherapy/stem cell rescue and who received retinoic acid plus the novel immunotherapy, and the second group comprised 113 children who received the standard treatment alone. After 2 years, event-free survival was 66% in the immunotherapy group versus 46% in the standard treatment group. Overall survival at 2 years was 86% in the immunotherapy group versus 75% in the standard treatment group. Side effects of the novel immunotherapy group included pain (21%), vascular leak syndrome (7.3%), and allergic reactions (7.2%). "Chimeric anti-GD2 antibody ch14.18 combined with GM-CSF and IL-2 improves [event-free survival] for high-risk [neuroblastoma] patients," the authors concluded. [Presentation title: A Phase III Randomized Trial of the Chimeric Anti-GD2 Antibody ch14.18 With GM-CSF and IL2 as Immunotherapy Following Dose Intensive Chemotherapy for High-Risk Neuroblastoma: Children's Oncology Group (COG) Study ANBL0032. Abstract 10067]
|
