The clinical 'IvacALL' study is currently investigating the effectiveness of tumour vaccines in children suffering from leukaemia. Relapses after chemo or stem cell therapy are a major problem. Here, customized vaccines open up new treatment options: Children's immune systems are able to recognize the protein changes in tumour cells and to fight them. Therapeutic vaccines using altered protein fragments, or peptides can direct immune cells specifically to the tumour.

As a first step the DNA of both the patient's tumour and their normal healthy tissue extensively analyzed in order to identify the cancer-specific alterations. Following on from that, each patient is vaccinated with a personalized peptide cocktail. The tumour database, which was developed in the course of the study forms the basis of improved treatment options for children in the long-term. The technical progress in genome sequencing in recent years has made these large datasets available for individual therapies.