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Personalized Vaccines

Personalized cancer vaccines are designed using tumour tissue, sequencing data or patient-specific tumour antigens to stimulate a targeted immune response. Approaches include dendritic-cell vaccines, neoantigen peptide vaccines and DNA or mRNA platforms, but most remain experimental and require confirmation in controlled clinical trials.

Liau et al., 2023 — “Association of Autologous Tumor Lysate-Loaded Dendritic Cell Vaccination With Extension of Survival Among Patients With Newly Diagnosed and Recurrent Glioblastoma: A Phase 3 Prospective Externally Controlled Cohort Trial”

This study reported longer survival with the personalised dendritic-cell vaccine DCVax-L compared with external control populations. However, the externally controlled, non-randomised design limits the certainty with which the survival difference can be attributed to the vaccine.

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Ahluwalia et al., 2023 — “Phase IIa Study of SurVaxM Plus Adjuvant Temozolomide for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma”

This single-arm phase IIa study found that SurVaxM combined with temozolomide was well tolerated and produced encouraging survival results. SurVaxM targets the shared tumour protein survivin and is therefore not individually manufactured for each patient.

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Latzer et al., 2024 — “A Real-World Observation of Patients with Glioblastoma Treated with a Personalized Peptide Vaccine”

This retrospective study evaluated personalised neoantigen peptide vaccines in 173 patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent glioblastoma. Vaccination was feasible, generally well tolerated and frequently induced measurable T-cell responses, but the observational design cannot establish a survival benefit.

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Mendez-Gomez et al., 2024 — “RNA Aggregates Harness the Danger Response for Potent Cancer Immunotherapy”

This study introduced an mRNA lipid-aggregate platform designed to generate rapid immune activation while reprogramming the tumour microenvironment. The findings provide a scientific foundation for further clinical development of mRNA-based cancer vaccines.

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Garfinkle et al., 2026 — “Adjuvant Personalized Multivalent Neoantigen DNA Vaccination for MGMT Unmethylated Glioblastoma: A Phase 1 Trial”

This phase I study evaluated personalised DNA vaccines targeting up to 40 patient-specific neoantigens in nine patients. Vaccination was well tolerated and induced tumour-directed T-cell responses, but the small study was designed to assess safety and feasibility rather than treatment efficacy.

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Further Literature

  • Liu, Y., Zhou, F., Ali, H. et al. (2024): Immunotherapy for glioblastoma: current state, challenges, and future perspectives. Cell Mol Immunol 21, 1354–1375 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-024-01226-x

  • Garfinkle, E. A. R., Perales-Linares, R., Gimple, R. C. et al. (2026): Adjuvant personalized multivalent neoantigen DNA vaccination for MGMT unmethylated glioblastoma: a phase 1 trial. Nat Cancer 7, 1064–1079 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-026-01163-w

  • Afrashteh, F., Seyedpour. S., Rezaei, N. (2025): The therapeutic effect of mRNA vaccines in glioma: a comprehensive review. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2025 May;21(5):603-615. https://doi.org/10.1080/1744666X.2025.2494656

  • Chen, H. C., Wong, E. T., Sarangi. S. et al. (2026): Tumor antigen only (TAO) vaccine platforms for glioblastoma therapeutics: a systematic review of evidence from clinical trials. EClinicalMedicine. 2026 Feb 26;93:103774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2026.103774

  • de Freitas Chama, L., Romer Roche, P., Tabatabai, G., Freres, P., Hau, P., Glas, M. et al. (2025): O-09.03 Preliminary immunogenicity results from the dose escalation phase of a first-in-human study of the mRNA-based cancer vaccine CVGBM in patients with newly diagnosed MGMT-unmethylated glioblastoma. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 2025;13:. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2025-ITOC11.5

  • Karimi-Sani, I., Molavi, Z., Naderi, S. et al. (2024): Personalized mRNA vaccines in glioblastoma therapy: from rational design to clinical trials. J Nanobiotechnol 22, 601 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-024-02882-x

  • Mendez-Gomez, H. R., DeVries, A., Castillo, P. et al. (2024): RNA aggregates harness the danger response for potent cancer immunotherapy. Cell. 2024 May 9;187(10):2521-2535.e21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.04.003

  • Sayour, E.J., Boczkowski, D., Mitchell, D.A. et al. (2024): Cancer mRNA vaccines: clinical advances and future opportunities. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 21, 489–500 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-024-00902-1

  • Tabatabai, G., Freres, P., Glas, et al. (2024): CTIM-08. First in human study of the mRNA-based cancer vaccine CVGBM in patients (pts) with newly diagnosed and surgically resected MGMT-unmethylated  glioblastoma (GBM): First results from the dose escalation phase. Neuro Oncol. 2024 Nov 11;26(Suppl 8):viii86. https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noae165.0341 and (for presentation) https://www.curevac.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240913-CVGBM_ESMO-2024.pdf

  • Ahluwalia, M. S., Reardon, D. A., Abad, A. P. et al. (2023): Phase IIa Study of SurVaxM Plus Adjuvant Temozolomide for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Mar 1;41(7):1453-1465. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.22.00996

  • Bunse, L., Lindner, K., Wick, A. et al. (2026): IDH1-mutant vaccine in newly diagnosed astrocytoma: final analysis of the multicenter, single-arm, open-label, first-in-human phase 1 NOA16 trial. Nat Cancer 7, 1300–1311 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-026-01199-y

  • Iwamoto, F. M. et al. (2026): Lucicebtide (ST101) plus chemoradiation in newly diagnosed GBM patients: Efficacy, pharmacodynamics, and safety from phase 2 window-of-opportunity study.. J Clin Oncol 44, 2079-2079(2026). https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2026.44.16_suppl.2079

  • Latzer, P., Zelba, H., Battke, F. et al. (2024): A real-world observation of patients with glioblastoma treated with a personalized peptide vaccine. Nat Commun 15, 6870 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51315-8

  • Sampson, J. H., Aldape, K. D., Archer, G. E. et al. (2011): Greater chemotherapy-induced lymphopenia enhances tumor-specific immune responses that eliminate EGFRvIII-expressing tumor cells in patients with glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol. 2011 Mar;13(3):324-33. https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noq157

  • Tabatabai, G., Platten, M., Preusser, M., Weller, M., Wick, W., van den Bent, M. (2025): Treatment of glioblastoma patients with personalized vaccines outside clinical trials: Lessons ignored? Neuro Oncol. 2025 Jan 12;27(1):302-305. https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noae225

  • Zelba, H., Shao, B., Rabsteyn, A. et al. (2025): In-depth characterization of vaccine-induced neoantigen-specific T cells in patients with IDH1-mutant glioma undergoing personalized peptide vaccination. J Immunother Cancer. 2025 Jun 5;13(6):e011070. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2024-011070

  • Liau, L. M., Ashkan, K., Brem, S., et al. (2023): Association of Autologous Tumor Lysate-Loaded Dendritic Cell Vaccination With Extension of Survival Among Patients With Newly Diagnosed and Recurrent Glioblastoma: A Phase 3 Prospective Externally Controlled Cohort Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2023;9(1):112–121. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.5370 Supplement 1:  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/instance/9673026/bin/jamaoncol-e225370-s001.pdf Supplement 2: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/instance/9673026/bin/jamaoncol-e225370-s002.pdf

  • Liau, L.M., Ashkan, K., Tran, D.D. et al. (2018): First results on survival from a large Phase 3 clinical trial of an autologous dendritic cell vaccine in newly diagnosed glioblastoma. J Transl Med 16, 142 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-018-1507-6

  • Van Gool, S. W., Makalowski, J., Kampers, L. F. C., Van de Vliet, P., Sprenger, T., Schirrmacher, V., Stücker, W. (2023): Dendritic cell vaccination for glioblastoma multiforme patients: has a new milestone been reached? Transl Cancer Res. 2023 Aug 31;12(8):2224-2228. https://doi.org/10.21037/tcr-23-603

  • Van Gool, S. W., Van de Vliet, P., Kampers, L. F. C., Kosmal, J., Sprenger, T., Reich, E., Schirrmacher, V., Stuecker, W. (2024): Chapter 3 - Methods behind oncolytic virus-based DC vaccines in cancer: Toward a multiphase combined treatment strategy for Glioblastoma (GBM) patients. Methods in Cell Biology, Academic Press, Volume 183, 2024, 51-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.mcb.2023.06.001

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