(gentle music)
- [Narrator] At the UC Irvine Alpha Stem Cell Clinic
researchers, clinicians and caregivers
all come together to develop and deliver novel therapies
for a host of conditions.
Diabetes, burn injuries,
neurological conditions like Parkinson's Disease and Stroke.
And to this list a particularly grave disease
glioblastoma or GBM.
For 13 years, Neuro Oncologist
and director of the Alpha Stem Cell Clinic, Daniela Bota
has been pursuing her passion
to find more effective treatments for the disease.
- Glioblastoma is the most common
and sadly the most aggressive brain cancer
with a very poor survival rate.
It affects more than 200,000 people each year.
We all know of it, as we have seen it take
Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain, Beau Biden
and the rock drummer Neil Peart.
They all fought violently but the nature of this disease
has always allowed it to allude effective treatment.
Glioblastoma treatment always relied
on conventional cancer therapy
mainly a combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
My experience with the devastating nature of glioblastoma
has driven me to seek new ways to fight this disease
through broad collaboration with many different discipline
an effort which is made possible in large part by CIRM.
In collaboration with Aivita Biomedical,
my colleagues in the Neuro Oncology Program
at UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
and many other neuro oncologists across the United States
we have embarked on a phase two clinical
trial targeting glioblastoma STEM cells.
Our strategy is to train patient's own immune system
to attack the root cause of the cancer's ability
to return again and again.
The cancer STEM cells
which are what make glioblastomas so hard to overcome.
What we are doing is to understand the biology of the tumor
how to target it
and using this fundamental understanding
to enlist a patient's own immune system
by creating a personalized vaccine from the tumor cells.
- [Narrator] Our immune system is very good
at attacking tumors.
So the researchers trained specific immune cells
to recognize the tumor cells and then destroy them.
When the tumor is removed, a part of it is taken
to the Aivita Biomedical Production Facility.
There, GBM tumor STEM cells are separated.
They then take some of the patient's
own special immune cells called dendritic cells
and load them with antigens from the GBM STEM cells.
The dendritic cells are helper cells
that instruct other immune cells.
Cells whose function is to destroy bad sick
or foreign cells in the body
to attack and kill the cancer cells.
In this way the treatment acts like a personalized vaccine.
A vaccine made from the patient's own cells
that recognizes the patient's specific tumor cells
and causes the immune system to rid the body
of the patient's distinct type of cancer cells.
- With our partners,
including UC Davis and UC San Diego.
We have around 60 patients in this trial.
Since the treatment is made
out of the patient's own cells,
no patient have had any significant adverse side effect.
The preliminary results of this clinical trial
suggest a very promising increase in the number
of patients surviving longer than 15 months
which compares favorably
with the results of standard treatment
with radiation and chemotherapy only.
- [Narrator] An example of the efficacy of the treatment
is one of its first patients, Daniel Boyd.
- When Daniel started treatment at UCI,
his tumor was about the size of a tennis ball.
Now I cannot detect the tumor on brain imaging
and he has no indication of active cancer
but he does have an active life of running
and playing with his grandchildren.
It is my passion, my intention
that we can one day deliver the same outcome
for every glioblastoma patient.
These results and this trial are only possible
through the support of CIRM
and the Alpha STEM Cell Clinic Network
and the collaboration of industry
and of so many researchers
who shared the passion to find a cure
for those who inspire us to go forward
our patients.
(soft music)
(gentle music)