Imugene (ASX:IMU), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, has announced Dr Tanios Bekaii-Saab from the Mayo Clinic will present on the KEY-Vaxx and B-Vaxx cancer vaccine programs at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2019 Annual Meeting.
The abstract presentations are entitled ‘Development of a novel PD-1 vaccine and in combination with two Chimeric HER-2 peptide vaccine provides synergistic inhibition of tumor growth in a syngeneic Balb/c model challenged with CT26/HER-2 carcinoma cell line’ and ‘A Phase I Active Immunotherapy Trial With a Combination of Two Chimeric (Trastuzumab-like and Pertuzumab-like) Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER-2) B Cell Peptide Vaccine Emulsified in ISA 720 and Nor-MDP Adjuvant in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors.’
The abstracts were authored by Dr Saab and other researchers.
Imugene’s KEY-Vaxx is a B-cell peptide cancer vaccine designed to treat tumours such as lung cancer by interfering with PD-1/PD-L1 binding and interaction.
"KEY-Vaxx when combined with B-Vaxx has shown great potential in preclinical studies, showing robust PD-1 and HER-2 antibody responses in all vaccinated mice indicating that the combined vaccination is effective in reducing tumor growth in a Balb/c syngeneic model of colon carcinoma versus either the PD-1 vaccine alone or more importantly the positive control gold standard that is anti-mouse PD-1 monoclonal antibody," said the company in a statement.
"The vaccine combination was found to be safe and did not appear to exhibit toxicity or autoimmunity," it added.
The Phase I B-Vaxx trial studied the side effects and best dose of vaccine therapy in treating patients with metastatic solid tumours. The open-label, dose escalation study evaluated B-Vaxx in patients with solid tumours that overexpress the HER-2/neu receptor. B-Vaxx has been shown to stimulate a potent polyclonal antibody response to HER-2/nue.
B-Vaxx is a proprietary B-cell peptide cancer vaccine being developed by Imugene and targeting multiple oncology indications. A Phase 2 study evaluating the activity of B-Vaxx in patients over expressing HER-2/nue is being conducted at clinical institutions in the US.