Vaccine targeting tumor angiogenesis as a novel strategy for cancer therapy: a clinical approach

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, is essential for cancer. Previously, we developed an anti-angiogenic vaccine using fixed activated endothelium, and showed its anti-tumor effect in a pre-clinical animal model. Recently, we tested clinical utility of anti-angiogenic vaccination using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in a phase I clinical study between 2003 and 2007, in the University of Tokyo Hospital, Japan. 6 patients with recurrent malignant brain tumors and 3 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer received in total 230 intradermal injections of 5x10⁷ HUVECs/dose. Specific humoral and cellular immune responses, whereas no adverse effect, were observed in 8 of 9 patients. Tumor regression was observed in 3 of 6 malignant brain tumor patients, whereas not in 3 colorectal cancer patients. The present pilot study showed the safety and potential clinical utility of the anti-angiogenic vaccination, which is believed to be a promising novel strategy for cancer therapy

Bibliographic Reference:

Okaji Y et al.: “Pilot study of anti-angiogenic vaccine using fixed whole endothelium in patients with progressive malignancy after failure of conventional therapy”, European Journal of Cancer. 2008 Feb; 44(3): 383-90