A pivotal phase III study using Sipuleucel-T, an autologous prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP)-loaded dendritic cell immunotherapy, in men with metastatic hormon resistant prostate cancer demonstrated a survival advantage over placebo. By contrast, two phase III studies of GVAX, an allogeneic tumor cell vaccine, in a similar patient population failed to show a survival benefit of GVAX or GVAX/docetaxel over standard docetaxel/prednisone. Other strategies currently in clinical development include the ProstVac poxviral vaccine, a PAP-encoding DNA vaccine and immune checkpoint inhibitory approaches.
Keywords: prostate cancer, immunotherapy, prognosis, survival