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A Vaccine for the Treatment of Patients with Advanced ALK Rearrangement Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Trial Status: active

This phase I/II trial evaluates the safety and effectiveness of an anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) peptide vaccine for treating patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement positive (ALK+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that may have spread from where it first started to nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or distant parts of the body (advanced). The ALK peptide vaccine is made up of small pieces (peptides) of abnormal (mutated) ALK protein. The instructions to make the ALK protein are kept on the ALK gene. If the ALK gene fuses abnormally with another gene, it causes tumor cells to grow and spread in the body. While this protein can be targeted with anti-cancer medications, further mutations in the protein can cause the cancer to become resistant to these medications. The vaccine is used to teach an individual’s immune system to recognize these abnormal mutations that can cause treatment resistance and mount an immune response. This immune response may prevent tumor cells with an ALK mutation from becoming resistant to treatment.