P4A086: Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines in the Management of Neuroblastoma: A Systematic Review

Background: In recent years, therapeutic cancer vaccines have gained interest as a potential therapy for a number of tumors including neuroblastoma. This review aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the currently used therapeutic cancer vaccines for neuroblastoma, including the potential benefits in combination with other treatments.

Methods: A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases. Studies were included if they were conducted on patients with neuroblastoma and used therapeutic vaccines, and were randomized clinical trials, case reports, retrospective studies, case series or non-randomized clinical trials, were published in English and reported effects, survival rates, and other outcome measures. Outcome measures included the type of vaccine intervention used, survival rates after 1-5 years, relapses, mortality rates, side effects experienced by patients, and immune responses to the vaccines.

Results: A total of 671 articles were found, of which 22 were eligible for inclusion in this review. Eight different vaccines were assessed in 433 neuroblastoma patients, with the majority belonging to the anti-GD2 vaccine type or allogeneic tumor cell vaccine. The vaccines were well tolerated, with 96.4% of patients experiencing transient local reactions such as erythema, induration, and panniculitis, and 50% experiencing systemic reactions such as fever, muscle and bone pain. Overall, the vaccines increased the patients' immune response against cancer cells. The average time to first relapse was 70 days (49-148 days) and the average survival rate was 278 days (103-525 days) for the patients who received the allogeneic tumor cell vaccine. Meanwhile, the average time to first relapse was 47 months (32-52 months) and the overall survival rate was 56 months and 16 days for the patients who received the anti-GD2 vaccine.

Conclusion: The systematic review provides an overview of the current stage of therapeutic cancer vaccines in managing neuroblastoma. The review highlights that patients with neuroblastoma show increased immune response after receiving cancer vaccines, particularly with anti-GD2 vaccines that have lower side effects, relapse times, and improved survival rates. These promising results raise hope that these vaccines will be an effective approach to manage this disease. However, further research is needed to fully evaluate the safety and efficacy of therapeutic cancer vaccines in the treatment of neuroblastoma in the long term.