In a press conference on Tuesday, Roswell Park announced the launch of a landmark immunotherapy vaccine trial that has the potential to bring great hope to those affected by cancer.

The Center for Immunotherapy at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) has launched a phase I clinical research study of a dendritic cell vaccine designed to both eradicate cancer cells and prevent disease relapse. Developed at RPCI, the NY-ESO-1 dendritic cell vaccine will be manufactured in the Institute’s new Therapeutic Cell Production Facility using a unique FDA-approved process — making RPCI the first research facility in the U.S. to use a custom-made barrier isolator for vaccine cell production, and the first in the world to use this system in an approved, government-regulated study.

In layman’s terms this is the basic breakdown of the vaccine program:
—20 cancer patients will be chosen for the clinic
—They will have some of their cells removed
—Those removed cells will be injected with a protein that makes the cells remember how to kill cancer cells
—The killing-cancer-cells will be put back into the patients body

Roswell expects it to take at least two years before researchers will know if the trials worked.

“This trial will be only the beginning of a very robust program of activity in the area of using the human immune system to fight cancer,” adds Dr. Odunsi, the Director of RPCI’s Center for Immunotherapy (CFI) and the study’s Principal Investigator “Our production process holds tremendous potential for applications related to stem-cell therapy and regenerative medicine, and I believe we’re uniquely positioned at RPCI to have the tools, infrastructure and multidisciplinary collaboration to capitalize on these ideas and opportunities both effectively and efficiently.”

Personally, I’ve had quite a few family members who have gone through some sort of cancer treatments. Roswell and Hospice are great organizations that have a strong and focused goal in mind—to cure cancer. This kind of breakthrough is a step in the right direction for something amazing.

For a complete breakdown of the vaccine trial, check out this video from Roswell Park, explaining the clinic in great detail.