[Sipuleucel-T: a prostate cancer vaccine: "instructions for use" for urologists]

Sipuleucel-T is the first approved vaccine for prostate cancer, opening the pathway for this new treatment approach. The treatment process consists in isolating the patient dentritic cells via leukapherisis, stimulate and infuse them into the patient. These enhanced cells are then able to stimulate patient T lymphocytes to target the tumour cells. The median survival in the pivotal study, IMPACT, as well as in the previously reported randomised trials, was 4.1 months longer in the sipuleucel-T group. The estimated probability of survival 36 months after randomisation was 31.7% in the sipuleucel-T group and 23.0% in the placebo group. However, the median time to objective disease progression was similar in the two groups (hazard ratio: 0.95; 95% CI, 0.77 to 1.17; P=0.63). We report herein, the treatment modalities, side effects and results in the light of recently published randomised trials.