Inter-Balkan Medical Center of Thessaloniki: European first in the study of a vaccine for lung cancer
At the Interbalkan Medical Center of Thessaloniki, a member of the Athens Medical Center Group, the first patient in Europe to participate in a clinical study of the American Society in collaboration with the Oncology Clinical Studies Department of the Interbalkan Medical Center, under the supervision of Dr. Sofia Baka, Pathologist – Oncologist, Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The clinical study focuses on the development and administration of vaccines and the therapy is based on the neoantigens of the tumor which are unique to each patient’s cancer and for this reason a personalized approach is required.
The patient, suffering from lung cancer, after undergoing surgical removal of the cancer, then received a cycle of chemotherapy. Part of the tumor is sent to the central laboratories used for the study, in order to create an injectable vaccine-type treatment that trains the immune system not to allow other identical tumors to form. The patient will also receive immunotherapy along with the new treatment.
As stated by Dr. Sofia Baca: “The personalized vaccine treatment is a milestone in the fight against lung cancer and cancer in general. By adapting the vaccines for each patient, we aim to enhance the body’s immune response against cancer cells, leading to better results and an improvement in their quality of life. This new individualized, personalized treatment at our center, the Interbalkan Medical Center of Thessaloniki, is also given to patients with surgically treated melanoma, and to date several patients have already received treatment.”
