Personalized cancer vaccines vanquish melanoma in small but encouraging study

A small pilot study raises hopes that personalized cancer vaccines might prove safer and more effective than immune-based therapies already in use or further along in development. In a paper published online in Nature on Wednesday, scientists reported that all six melanoma patients who received an experimental, custom-made vaccine seemed to benefit: their tumors did not return after treatment.

Researchers not involved in the study praised its results, but with caveats. The scientists “did a beautiful job,” said MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Greg Lizee, an expert in tumor immunology, who called the