Cancer vaccine therapy using MAGE products

We have treated patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer using dendritic cells (DCs) and MAGE peptides since 1997 as (Far) Advanced Medicine. The patients have already been given standard therapy such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. They also have measurable disease using CT and/or MRI. Considering their situation, the patients who joined the study have poor systemic condition. Here we report the clinical results of our cancer vaccine therapy for 28 patients. Recently, at the ASCO Meeting, a phase II study using MAGE-A3 compound for patients with completely resected lung cancer was reported. The result was quite promising, and now phase III study has been performed all over the world including Japan. Finally, we show some data addressing a future promising plan for a cancer vaccine strategy targeting cancer stem cells or developing new cancer antigens with microarray technologies.