Cellxlife gains license to ovarian cancer vaccine in clinical trials
Mayo Clinic vaccine aims to teach immune system to prevent cancer relapses
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Cellxlife signed a licensing agreement for a cell-based vaccine from Mayo Clinic that aims to teach the body’s immune system to recognize and prevent ovarian cancer from relapsing (returning), with early clinical studies showing unusually long-lasting survival in some patients.
The agreement builds on CellxLife’s proprietary platform, which engineers a patient’s own dendritic cells (immune cells that patrol tissues and trigger immune responses by presenting antigens on their surfaces to other immune cells) before returning them to the body to recognize cancer cells and trigger a targeted immune response.
The new vaccine will be tested in two Phase 2 clinical trials for ovarian cancer.
“This licensing agreement marks a significant milestone for CellxLife,” Eric von Hofe, PhD, the company’s CEO, said in a press release sent to Rare Cancer News. “We are eager to advance this promising vaccine to address a patient population that urgently needs more effective options to reduce relapse and prolong survival.”
Ovarian cancer is the second most common type of gynecologic cancer. It is often diagnosed at an advanced stage because it can grow slowly, and early symptoms can be subtle or overlooked. Ovarian cancer can also be difficult to treat because it often relapses after standard treatment.
Cancer vaccines moving ‘from concept to reality’
Ovarian cancer cells express high levels of folate receptor alpha, a protein barely expressed in normal tissues that helps cancer cells grow and spread. To evade the immune system, cancer cells also recruit regulatory T cells, which dampen immune responses.
Two Mayo Clinic researchers designed a vaccine to overcome these problems. It not only teaches the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells carrying the folate receptor alpha protein, but also promotes the activity of Th17 immune cells, which help counter the effects of regulatory T-cells and make it more difficult for cancer cells to evade the immune system.
“The advancement of the folate receptor dendritic cell vaccine platform toward commercialization represents an important milestone, not just for our work, but for the field as a whole,” said Keith Knutson, PhD, an immunologist at Mayo Clinic who developed the vaccine along with Mayo immunologist and medical oncologist Matthew Block, MD, PhD. “Cancer vaccines are rapidly transitioning from concept to reality, and the opportunity to potentially improve outcomes for patients has never been greater.”
In an early Phase 1 clinical study (NCT02111941) sponsored by Mayo Clinic, 19 women with advanced ovarian cancer received treatment with a dendritic cell vaccine loaded with a small piece of folate receptor alpha. The vaccine was injected intradermally (into the skin) every three weeks for five courses and then every three months for seven courses.
Of the 18 vaccinated patients with efficacy data available, seven (39%) remained cancer-free for at least 10 years. Historically, only about 10% of similar patients would be expected to achieve such long-term, cancer-free survival. This finding suggests that the vaccine creates lasting immune memory, which enables the immune system to recognize cancer cells and remain ready to attack them if they return.
The vaccine was also shown to induce strong antigen-specific immune responses, including immune responses directed by Th17 cells in most patients. These immune responses were linked to longer cancer-free survival. “We are encouraged by the high percent of patients with a prolonged cancer-free survival,” von Hofe said.
The vaccine is now progressing to Phase 2 development. Based on the vaccine’s potential utility across multiple solid tumor indications, a study is also being planned for patients with glioblastoma, lung, pancreatic, colorectal, and cervical cancers.
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