In Brief

From OncoLog, October 2005, Vol. 50, No. 10

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Vaccine May Prime the Immune System to Fight Lymphomas

Researchers at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute have found that an experimental vaccine can prime the immune system to help fight an aggressive form of lymphoma, even if prior therapy has eliminated virtually all of the B cells thought necessary to mount such a defense.

Their study, published in the September issue of Nature Medicine, has important implications for both basic and clinical science, researchers say. It demonstrates that few, if any, B cells are needed to trigger an effective T-cell immune response. This finding overturns the commonly accepted notion that both B cells and T cells are needed to prime the human immune system.

“We were frankly surprised to find that B cells were coming back in patients that were already primed to fight their tumors,” said senior author Larry Kwak, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Lymphoma at M. D. Anderson. “Now we know B cells are not needed for T-cell immunity.”

Their research also tests the use of personalized vaccines to help patients with lymphoma fend off a recurrence of their cancer after treatment. Several such cancer vaccines are being tested in humans. In this study, conducted at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, treatment with a B-cell depleting treatment regimen followed by an experimental vaccine resulted in an impressive 89% survival rate at 46 months for 26 patients with mantle cell lymphoma, for which there is currently no effective long-term therapy.

“This is the first human cancer vaccine study to see T-cell responses in the absence of B cells, and this paves the way to use vaccines in a number of hematologic cancers that are treated by eliminating diseased B cells,” said the study’s first author, Sattva Neelapu, M.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Lymphoma.

Testicular Cancer Gene—Of Mice and Men

Researchers have located a gene dubbed “dead end” that, when mutated or lost, causes testicular tumors in mice. They say their study, published in the journal Nature on May 19, 2005, may lead to future insights into the genetic causes of the disease in humans because the cancer originates from the same cell type, the primordial germ cell, in both mice and men.

If that notion is validated through further research, the finding could lead to a way to either screen for the human disease or treat it, say the researchers.

“One can envision that this gene or others in its pathway could possibly be used for screening or therapeutic purposes in young males predisposed to develop testicular cancer or those who have a family history of this disease,” said the lead investigator, Angabin Matin, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at M. D. Anderson. “This will, of course, require further research regarding the function of this gene in human cancers.”

M. D. Anderson Accelerates Research

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has unveiled plans for the most aggressive expansion of research in the institution’s history through the establishment of the Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer.

Consisting of six unique centers focused on genomics, proteomics, screening, diagnostic imaging, and biotechnology, the McCombs Institute will be a collaboration between basic and clinical researchers crisscrossing departments, specialties, and disease sites and a magnet for attracting the biotechnology industry to Houston.

The McCombs Institute will bring approximately 750,000 square feet of outpatient care and biomedical research facilities to M. D. Anderson. Approximately 25% of the institution’s research activities will be housed within the McCombs Institute.

“The McCombs Institute will bring together some of the world’s best laboratory researchers and clinical investigators in the field of cancer. They will be working in disciplines that M. D. Anderson faculty and leadership have identified as promising for the future of cancer research and care,” said M. D. Anderson President John Mendelsohn, M.D. “Certainly other institutions have programs that focus on early detection and treatment, but I don’t know of any that come close to the size, scope, and level of ambition of the McCombs Institute.”

Each of the six centers will be in a separate building, focused on a research topic that transcends departmental lines, and each center brings together basic scientists and clinical researchers from many different disciplines who share a particular research interest. Research already has begun in each center, and construction on the McCombs Institute is expected to be complete in 2008. The six centers are:

Cancer Metastasis Research Center (Existing),
Center for Cancer Immunology Research (Completed in 2003),
Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers (Opening 2005),
Proton Therapy Center (Opening 2006),
Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research (Opening 2007–2008), and
Center for Targeted Therapy (Opening 2007–2008).

For more information on this topic or for questions about M. D. Anderson’s treatments, programs, or services, call askMDAnderson at (877) MDA-6789.

Other articles in OncoLog, October 2005 issue:

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