The U.S. Journal of the National Cancer Institute has just published in September a article by specialists from the University of Navarra in which they demonstrate the efficacy and clinical benefit of a vaccine against a subject blood cancer, follicular lymphoma, in patients in first relapse. The study is funded by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of New York and the results were presented at the national congress of the Spanish Hematology and Hemotherapy association , held in 2005 in Madrid. The authors of work, led by Dr. Maurizio Bendandi, are researchers at CIMA and physicians at the University Clinic.

More than 5,000 people over 40 years of age are diagnosed with this cancer subject annually in Spain. Follicular lymphoma is a tumor of the lymphatic system whose cells have a surface protein, specifically an immunoglobulin, which can be used as a target. The vaccine, called idiotypic, is produced from this protein and is designed to provoke a reaction in the patient's immune system. goal . Stanford University developed this vaccine in animals in the 1970s and applied it in humans almost 20 years ago. In 1992, its biological efficacy was proven: it is capable of stimulating the human immune system. In 1999, Dr. Bendandi and other scientists at the U.S. National Cancer Center high school demonstrated that the biological efficacy was also clinical. Now has come the demonstration of clinical benefit to patients.

This is the first study with this design to investigate this benefit in patients who have suffered a relapse, although other clinical trials in this field are underway in two US centers: the one led by Dr. Larry Kwak in Houston (Texas) and the one led by Dr. Ronald Levy in Stanford (California).