Active immunotherapy for brain cancer

We treated 11 patients (9 children aged 2-7 years and 2 adult patients of 30 and 45 years) with anti-cancer immunotherapeutic vaccines. Before the onset of immunotherapy, all patients showed signs of continued tumor growth. Over the follow-up period, patients received no systemic therapy other than immunotherapy. Five-year follow-up showed apparent long-term benefits arising from vaccine therapy in 9/11 patients. Final data analysis showed that these 9 patients were alive and led an active life. Although the results obtained in our small clinical study are very promising, they must be interpreted with caution because of an insufficient number of patients treated.