Implantable vaccine aims to recruit immune cells to fight cancer

Researchers from Harvard University are experimenting with a new vaccine implant to train the immune system to fight tumors, particularly deadly melanomas killing thousands of Americans every year. The clinical trials follow previous work using an animal model in 2009, which showed the concept worked. In the approach, researchers place a fingernail-sized sponge beneath the skin to reprogram immune cells to hunt and kill deadly cancers. “It is rare to get a new technology tested in the laboratory and moved into human clinical trials so quickly,” Dr. Glenn Dranoff, a medical professor on the project, told reporters. Dranoff and his colleagues intend to test the safety of the implant in a small number of patients in this early clinical trial, before moving to a phase II study to test the treatment’s effectiveness. If successful, the researchers plan to move to a larger phase III trial to win regulatory approval for a treatment that...