Clinical Trials

Researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have announced that they are launching a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a cancer vaccine. The vaccine targets H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma, an aggressive brain tumour typically found in adolescents and young people.

The goal of the trial is to improve survival rates in patients diagnosed with H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma, as well as provide new insights into how the immune system responds to primary brain cancers. The trial begins with patients who are over 18 years old, eventually expanding to patients as young as five. All patients have a confirmed diagnosis of H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma.

ULCA Health is currently the only centre researching immunotherapy for this specific glioma type.

“These cancers show a host of escape pathways, allowing small populations of cells to survive initial treatment and to adapt. The data from our pre-clinical studies makes us hopeful that an active, targeted cancer vaccine will be able to adapt with the tumour, in order to eliminate cancer cells more effectively.” Said Dr Anthony Wang, principal investigator of the trial and director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Program at UCLA Health.

Dr. Robert Prins, professor in the departments of neurosurgery and molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA added: “The development of effective cancer immunotherapies requires a deep understanding of the tumor antigens targeted by the immune system. We found that the histone H3 G34R mutation significantly alters mRNA regulation, inducing a conserved set of mRNA splicing changes that result in neoantigens potentially targetable by T lymphocytes.”

Funding for the clinical trial includes sources such as the US Department of Defence, donors supporting the UCLA Pediatric Brain Tumor Program, and the National Institutes of Health.