Cancer vaccines are becoming an increasingly attractive focus of study, but there are still perils and pitfalls along the way to success. Two recent studies have looked at ways to get around these, focusing on experimental cancer vaccines boosted by existing drugs.One of the issues that cancer vaccines face is that tumors can hide from the immune system, helped by the regulatory T cells or Tregs that normally turn off the immune system once it has finished fighting infection. These white blood cells have been co-opted by cancers to protect them from the normal immune response, also cutting the effectiveness of cancer vaccines that are designed to boost the immune responses against the tumors. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are looking at using daclizumab (Zenapax)--a monoclonal antibody used to prevent transplant rejection--to target the Tregs and convert them into normal T cells, and to therefore restore the immune response against the cancers.Ten women with metastatic breast cancer were treated with daclizumab and an experimental cancer vaccine developed at the university. Their Tregs converted to T cells, lasting for two months; the tumors in 6 patients stopped growing, and they survived around 30% longer than the women who had the cancer vaccine alone. The results were published in Science Translational Medicine. "Although we tested our approach in patients with breast cancer, we know that Tregs can block the immune response against most human cancers," says senior author Robert H. Vonderheide. "Drugs like daclizumab might be useful for most cancer patients, especially those receiving other types of immune therapy."This approach could work in other cancers, but this was a very small trial in patients with advanced disease, and more studies are needed--the team is planning a study in summer 2012 with the vaccine and another similar drug, as daclizumab is not currently available from its manufacturer.And in another story, adding the hormonal therapy letrozole to Oncothyreon's ($ONTY) Stimuvax lung cancer vaccine improved the responses in mice. Stimuvax is in Phase III trials, and results aren't expected until 2013.- read the press release about daclizumab
- see the abstract from Science Translational Medicine
- check out the press release about letrozole
- see the abstract from Clinical Cancer ResearchRelated Articles:
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Thursday, 17 May 2012
Immune Responses-Cancer Vaccines-Cancer Patients
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Immune Responses-Clinical Trial-Flu Shot-Vaccine
iBio's ($IBIO) shares have jumped 21% with the announcement that it has completed the first Phase I clinical trial of its plant-based vaccine for H1N1 influenza, HAC1. The study of the vaccine, produced by iBio's partner the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, aimed to assess the vaccine's safety, as well as looking for early clues to its ability to trigger an immune response against the flu virus.The study showed that the vaccine was safe and well-tolerated at low and high doses, regardless of whether an adjuvant was used. The vaccine also triggered immune responses, with the best immune response seen in the people who received the highest dose of the vaccine without an adjuvant. This was a similar response to a marketed flu shot.The vaccine's development is supported by funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The vaccine is based on iBio's iBioLaunch platform, which uses plants to produce engineered proteins. The researchers are analyzing the data and are preparing a manuscript for a peer-reviewed journal.- read the releaseRelated Articles:
H1N1 provides new universal flu vax hope
Plant-based H1N1 vax starts clinical trial
WHO says H1N1 pandemic has run its course
Up to 70M doses of unused H1N1 vax to be destroyed read more..
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Immune Response-Breast Cancer-Vaccine-History-Women
MONDAY, April 2 -- A vaccine to prevent breast cancer's return in women with a history of the disease has triggered the desired immune response in early research.The vaccine under development is aimed at preventing recurrence in women who have a... read more..
U.S. Women Could Be More Obese Than Believed
MONDAY, April 2 -- The way that obesity is currently measured greatly underestimates the actual number of women who are obese, a new study suggests.Almost half of women currently labeled as not obese by virtue of their body mass index (BMI) turned... read more..
Friday, 30 March 2012
Digital Mammography System-Fujifilm Medical Systems
THURSDAY, March 29 -- A stronger immune response occurs in women who have been infected with two different strains of HIV by two different sexual partners than in women infected with one strain of HIV, a new study finds.This type of dual infection... read more..
Fujifilm Unveils Aspire CRm Digital Mammography System
Fujifilm Unveils Aspire CRm Digital Mammography System
Fujifilm's expanding women's health offering provides lower vol...
FUJIFILM MEDICAL SYSTEMS INC. read more..
Fujifilm Unveils Aspire CRm Digital Mammography System
STAMFORD, Conn., March 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc. today unveiled the Aspire CRm Full Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) system, the latest addition to the company's expanding women's health offering. The Aspire CRm is an ideal option for... read more..