Funded Research
September 2005: The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative donated $50,000 to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support a vaccine study for clear cell sarcoma (CCS), alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), and pediatric melanoma. Dr. John Goldberg and Dr. David Fisher are co-directing this study.
The vaccine trial for CCS, ASPS and pediatric melanoma should become fully activated and available for patients in the next 4-6 weeks. Patients who are eligible for the study and who consent for the trial will undergo an operation in Boston to remove their own tumor tissue, from which the vaccine will be made. The tumor will be brought to a special laboratory and have a gene for GM-CSF, a powerful cytokine that stimulates the immune system, added to the individual tumor cells. The tumor cells will then be irradiated so that they can never grow again and tested to make sure they make GM-CSF. The cells will then be frozen for safe keeping while the patient recovers from surgery. If this process works correctly, the vaccine cells will then be given back to the patient in weekly and then bi-weekly injections over the course of several months.
For additional information, see the news story at Dana Farber or this press release.