Personalized Immunotherapy in Adults With Advanced Cancers Immunotherapy in Adults With Advanced Cancers

Summary

Participation Requirements

Description

The purpose of this study is to determine if it is possible to make and administer safely a 'personalized' vaccine to treat patients that have been diagnosed with advanced cancer and are not candidates for curative therapy. This 'personalized' vaccine will use information gained from specific charac...

The purpose of this study is to determine if it is possible to make and administer safely a 'personalized' vaccine to treat patients that have been diagnosed with advanced cancer and are not candidates for curative therapy. This 'personalized' vaccine will use information gained from specific characteristics of your own cancer. It is known that cancer has mutations (changes in genetic material) that are specific to an individual and tumor. These mutations can cause the tumor cells to produce proteins that appear very different from the body's own cells. It is possible that these proteins used in a vaccine may induce strong immune (protective) responses, which may help your body fight any tumor cells that could cause your cancer to come back in the future. The study will examine the safety of the vaccine when given at several time points and will examine your blood cells for signs that the vaccine induced an immune response. The personalized vaccine will be given in combination with an anti-PD1 antibody, pembrolizumab, which is used with the intention to increase anti-cancer immunity (protection). Pembrolizumab is a type of drug that blocks certain proteins made by some types of immune system cells, such as T cells, and some cancer cells. These proteins help keep immune responses in check and can keep T cells from killing cancer cells. When these proteins are blocked, the "brakes" on the immune system are released and T cells are able to kill cancer cells better. This personalized vaccine is considered experimental because this is not an FDA approved therapy for cancer. Pembrolizumab is FDA approved for the treatment of melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), urothelial carcinoma, microsatellite instability-high cancer (MSI-H), gastric cancer, cervical cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Pembrolizumab is considered experimental (investigational) for the treatment of all other cancer types.

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