vaccine trial cvac (dendritic cell vaccine) phase IIB

softD
softD Member Posts: 69
in Ovarian Cancer #1
Hi everyone,
I'm considering going on a cvac trial for stage 3/4 ovca who are in
their 2nd remission.
Has anyone else been on a cvac trial?
Thanks for any input
Take care, Carolyn xx

Comments

  • Hissy_Fitz
    Hissy_Fitz Member Posts: 1,834
    #2
    I am currently in a phase I
    I am currently in a phase I clinical trial for an ovarian cancer vaccine. It is limited to women diagnosed at stage III or IV, and who are in their first remission.

    This trial is at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in NYC. There is another board member in the same trial (her name is Annie). I get a total of 5 injections, 2 CT scans, and blood work every week, then every 3 weeks, then every month. After that I get scanned and checked every 3 months for 2 years.

    Where is your trial being conducted?

    Carlene
  • softD
    softD Member Posts: 69
    #3
    Hissy_Fitz said:

    I am currently in a phase I
    I am currently in a phase I clinical trial for an ovarian cancer vaccine. It is limited to women diagnosed at stage III or IV, and who are in their first remission.

    This trial is at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in NYC. There is another board member in the same trial (her name is Annie). I get a total of 5 injections, 2 CT scans, and blood work every week, then every 3 weeks, then every month. After that I get scanned and checked every 3 months for 2 years.

    Where is your trial being conducted?

    Carlene

    Hi Carlene
    I have been following your posts about your trial. Thankyou for posting as much as
    you do, you give us all hope :)
    I live in Australia, and this trial is in Brisbane (Queensland) It is a phase 2b
    trial, but I think it is a little different to yours. The timing of the vaccines
    is a little different.
    I have decided to go ahead with this trial called can-003 cvac for epithelial ca.
    An earlier phase of this trial was done in Melbourne (Australia)and is still going.
    I have only just gone into remission for the 2nd time (3c),which is why I qualify for
    this trial which has apparently just opened in Brisbane.
    All the best to you Carlene,,, you are a trooper! I have only 1 hour drive to Brisbane
    so I am very lucky.
    Take care and good luck
    Carolyn xx
  • evertheoptimist
    evertheoptimist Member Posts: 140
    #4
    Hissy_Fitz said:

    I am currently in a phase I
    I am currently in a phase I clinical trial for an ovarian cancer vaccine. It is limited to women diagnosed at stage III or IV, and who are in their first remission.

    This trial is at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in NYC. There is another board member in the same trial (her name is Annie). I get a total of 5 injections, 2 CT scans, and blood work every week, then every 3 weeks, then every month. After that I get scanned and checked every 3 months for 2 years.

    Where is your trial being conducted?

    Carlene

    carlene,
    I live in NJ. I am
    carlene,

    I live in NJ. I am still finishing my front line therapy. I am OVC 3c (or UPSC 4b - the official pathology report went out as OVC 3c, so I should qualify). I will be done with my chemo by early May. If I get into remission (so far the odds are good), how do I sign up?

    Is the trial still open?

    How often do you need to visit MSK? What does the schedule look like? Do you need to be there constantly? Or, is it just for the first 5 injections?

    Thanks for sharing your experience.
  • Hissy_Fitz
    Hissy_Fitz Member Posts: 1,834
    #5
    evertheoptimist said:

    carlene,
    I live in NJ. I am
    carlene,

    I live in NJ. I am still finishing my front line therapy. I am OVC 3c (or UPSC 4b - the official pathology report went out as OVC 3c, so I should qualify). I will be done with my chemo by early May. If I get into remission (so far the odds are good), how do I sign up?

    Is the trial still open?

    How often do you need to visit MSK? What does the schedule look like? Do you need to be there constantly? Or, is it just for the first 5 injections?

    Thanks for sharing your experience.

    The trial I am in is
    The trial I am in is Globo-H-GM2-sTn-TF-Tn. You can Google it and get more info, or you can call Dr. Paul Sabbatini at 212-639-6423.

    You must have been sub-obtimally debulked, or your CA125 after your third round of chemo must have remained elevated. If your CA125 dropped to normal before your 4th chemo treatment, then you won't qualify. Mine was 89 after my 3rd round, but had dropped to normal within 2 weeks of my 4th chemo, so I barely made the cut.

    You will need to get copies of all your medical records, as well as the actual slides from your surgery. My first fax to Dr S's trial coordinator was 90+ pages.
    You must have a CT scan done at MSKCC to verify remission, as well as a CA 125. Don't get it done anywhere else, as they want their own people to do all the scans and they want the blood work done in their own labs. That way, there is less chance of questionable or corrupted data.

    If you qualify, you have to go for a pre-treatment interview (sign lots of papers, etc), then every week for the first 3 shots. After that it is roughly once a month, then every 3 months for two years, provided you do not relapse.

    They will bill your insurance company for everything except the actual vaccine, and whatever your insurance doesn't cover will be your responsibility. I have Medicare (primary) and United Health Care (secondary) and my part for the first three visits was $54, but your mileage may vary, as they say.

    Carlene
  • NCEllen
    NCEllen Member Posts: 115 Member
    #6
    Thanks for bringing this up.
    Thanks for bringing this up. In the last few days I have been wondering about a vaccine trial for second remission. I'm doing well with the 1st recurrance using Carbo/Taxol again - but I know the little 'weed seeds' will be back at some point to haunt me. My CT scan shows abd. tumors are shrinking and the CA's have been 31,14 and 9. Recurrance start somewhere @198 and I started re-treatment late.
    Anyway, I will be looking into trials here in the US like the one you've found. Thanks to all for updates on clinical trials - it's well worth the work to check out all that becomes available..Prayers, Hope- Faith unseen for Peace, Ellen
  • LaundryQueen
    LaundryQueen Member Posts: 676
    #7
    Hissy_Fitz said:

    The trial I am in is
    The trial I am in is Globo-H-GM2-sTn-TF-Tn. You can Google it and get more info, or you can call Dr. Paul Sabbatini at 212-639-6423.

    You must have been sub-obtimally debulked, or your CA125 after your third round of chemo must have remained elevated. If your CA125 dropped to normal before your 4th chemo treatment, then you won't qualify. Mine was 89 after my 3rd round, but had dropped to normal within 2 weeks of my 4th chemo, so I barely made the cut.

    You will need to get copies of all your medical records, as well as the actual slides from your surgery. My first fax to Dr S's trial coordinator was 90+ pages.
    You must have a CT scan done at MSKCC to verify remission, as well as a CA 125. Don't get it done anywhere else, as they want their own people to do all the scans and they want the blood work done in their own labs. That way, there is less chance of questionable or corrupted data.

    If you qualify, you have to go for a pre-treatment interview (sign lots of papers, etc), then every week for the first 3 shots. After that it is roughly once a month, then every 3 months for two years, provided you do not relapse.

    They will bill your insurance company for everything except the actual vaccine, and whatever your insurance doesn't cover will be your responsibility. I have Medicare (primary) and United Health Care (secondary) and my part for the first three visits was $54, but your mileage may vary, as they say.

    Carlene

    How does the vaccine work?
    Carlene

    Has anyone explained to you how the vaccine works? Is it supposed to stimulate the production of anti-cancer antibodies? Besides the usual CT scans & CA-125 levels, is there any other way to judge your response to the vaccine (such as skin reaction after the injection)?

    Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge & experience.
  • Hissy_Fitz
    Hissy_Fitz Member Posts: 1,834
    #8
    LaundryQueen said:

    How does the vaccine work?
    Carlene

    Has anyone explained to you how the vaccine works? Is it supposed to stimulate the production of anti-cancer antibodies? Besides the usual CT scans & CA-125 levels, is there any other way to judge your response to the vaccine (such as skin reaction after the injection)?

    Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge & experience.

    LQ....this particular
    LQ....this particular vaccine targets 5 antigens and the hope is that it will trigger anti-bodies that will recognize the tumor cells as abnormal, and destroy them.

    There is a You Tube video of Dr Sabbatini giving a presentation on another, older vaccine trial. This isn't the same trial I am on, but it does give a really good explanation of the whole vaccine theory.

    There is no real way of gaging a response to the vaccine, except by tracking the patients involved, to see if they recur or not, and at what point. They will track us for two years.

    The trial he talks about in this video is closed. It was for women on second and third remission, but Dr S told me that the vaccine I am getting is very, very similar to this one.

    Here's the link:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlsGgqGRR_M

    Just copy/paste it into your browser.

    Carlene
  • Hissy_Fitz
    Hissy_Fitz Member Posts: 1,834
    #9
    NCEllen said:

    Thanks for bringing this up.
    Thanks for bringing this up. In the last few days I have been wondering about a vaccine trial for second remission. I'm doing well with the 1st recurrance using Carbo/Taxol again - but I know the little 'weed seeds' will be back at some point to haunt me. My CT scan shows abd. tumors are shrinking and the CA's have been 31,14 and 9. Recurrance start somewhere @198 and I started re-treatment late.
    Anyway, I will be looking into trials here in the US like the one you've found. Thanks to all for updates on clinical trials - it's well worth the work to check out all that becomes available..Prayers, Hope- Faith unseen for Peace, Ellen

    Ellen....when will you be
    Ellen....when will you be done with your second line treatment? There are several vaccine trials still open for second remission and some for third, as well. I agree; it's definitely worth the time/trouble to check these out. Although the trial I am in is Phase I, and not likely to go anywhere, it's still better than doing nothing, in my opinion.

    Carlene
  • annecris
    annecris Member Posts: 44
    #10
    evertheoptimist said:

    carlene,
    I live in NJ. I am
    carlene,

    I live in NJ. I am still finishing my front line therapy. I am OVC 3c (or UPSC 4b - the official pathology report went out as OVC 3c, so I should qualify). I will be done with my chemo by early May. If I get into remission (so far the odds are good), how do I sign up?

    Is the trial still open?

    How often do you need to visit MSK? What does the schedule look like? Do you need to be there constantly? Or, is it just for the first 5 injections?

    Thanks for sharing your experience.

    I live in NJ too!!
    Hey there Optimist!!!!I am Annie - Carlene and I are in the trial - please send me your contact info - I have been cancer free (from Stage 3C) for two years!!! love your name - not sure if the trial is still open but we have all the contact info - the visits are once every week for the 1st three weeks then once a month for the rest - it is a total of approx. 5 months then every 3 months after for 2 years - where was your surgery and chemo done??? Keep the Faith Hon - You are NOT Alone!!!
  • Hissy_Fitz
    Hissy_Fitz Member Posts: 1,834
    #11
    annecris said:

    I live in NJ too!!
    Hey there Optimist!!!!I am Annie - Carlene and I are in the trial - please send me your contact info - I have been cancer free (from Stage 3C) for two years!!! love your name - not sure if the trial is still open but we have all the contact info - the visits are once every week for the 1st three weeks then once a month for the rest - it is a total of approx. 5 months then every 3 months after for 2 years - where was your surgery and chemo done??? Keep the Faith Hon - You are NOT Alone!!!

    Annie....last month Dr S
    Annie....last month Dr S told me they had 7 in the trial, so I'm guessing it is still open.

    Carlene

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