Under the Radar, page-486

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ian-frazer-head-and-neck-cancer-vaccine-in-new-human-trials/news-story/952931cc8aad91784d6f6ec07e50479f


Ian Frazer head and neck cancer vaccine in new human trials
Janelle Miles
medical reporter,
The Courier-MailMay 22, 2019 12:00am

A HEAD and neck cancer vaccine developed by celebrated Queensland scientist Ian Frazer will be tested in 12 patients with incurable tumours caused by the human papilloma virus.

In a two-pronged attack against the disease, the vaccine will be combined with immunotherapy drugs in Princess Alexandra Hospital patients with recurrent cancers of the tonsils or base of the tongue, known as oropharyngeal cancer.

Princess Alexandra Hospital cancer specialist Sandro Porceddu, who will conduct the trial, said that internationally, the incidence of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer had been skyrocketing since the 1980s, with a 225 per cent increase in the US alone.

In Australia, about 1500 people die annually from oropharyngeal cancer, 500 of them associated with HPV infection, with numbers expected to increase substantially during the next decade.

Professor Porceddu said preliminary results of the first human trial of Professor Frazer’s new vaccine in head and neck cancer patients, who were successfully treated with chemotherapy and radiation, showed it to be safe.Princess Alexandra Hospital cancer specialist Professor Sandro Porceddu, who is working with celebrated Queensland scientist Ian Frazer on a human trial testing a head and neck cancer vaccine, combined with immunotherapy drugs. Picture: Mark Cranitch

He said blood tests indicated it had also triggered an immune response, although the final results were not yet available.

The vaccine works by making killer T cells which target tumour cells containing bits of the HPV virus.

Prof Porceddu said patients in the new $3 million trial will also receive immunotherapy drugs, known as checkpoint inhibitors, designed to take the brakes off the immune system, enhancing the body’s ability to attack the cancer in a different way to the vaccine.

“If we prove that the combination treatment is safe and more effective, this will be a game changer, it will change the way we treat HPV-related throat cancers when they recur,” he said.

Although the researchers have ethics approval for the trial, he said another $700,000 was needed for it to go ahead.

Professor Fraser, based at the Translational Research Institute, is the developer of the Gardasil vaccine, designed to prevent HPV-related cancers, particularly cervical cancer in women,

but also some tumours of the head and neck, penis, anus, vagina and vulva.But unlike Gardasil, his latest head and neck cancer vaccine has been developed as a potential therapy, rather than as a preventative.

Prof Porceddu said Australia should start to see declines in HPV-related head and neck cancer in the next 20 to 30 years as a result of Gardasil being included in the national immunisation program.

To donate to the trial visit pafoundation.org.au or phone (07) 3176 2359