[ only very peripheral relevance ]......
Antigen-pulsed dendritic cells..... we know from previous work at Stanford, Idec, etc. that this project should encounter difficulties. The upside for using myeloma is that there are distinct tumor "specific" antigens (TSA) to hang your hat on. The downside is that B cells are renowned for the ability to change hat hangers, to mutate their idiotypes as part of a normal process. With the GZMO-supported/breast-ovarian work, there aren't any known TSA. They may be there, but (1) I doubt it, and (2) there's no conclusive definition of any. The method, IMO, probably depends on breaking tolerance to self antigens, antigens that are expressed in all individuals regardless of whether or not they have a malignancy. Some of the "antigens" (I use quotes because it's too early to say what is or is not happening) will be those that are relatively restricted to breast and ovarian tissues, and these are generally referred to as TAA (tumor "associated" antigens).
To make it even more peripherally related, the Dendreon work doesn't use tumor cell-dendritic cell fusion products. Just thought that this might be of some interest.......
Saturday December 4, 8:34 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Dendreon Reports Encouraging Results from Phase
I/II Studies of Immunotherapy for Multiple Myeloma
NEW ORLEANS--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 4, 1999--Dendreon Corporation today
reported clinical data from two Phase I/II trials of its immunotherapy product for multiple
myeloma.
The trials, involving approximately 60 patients, indicate that the treatment is safe, well
tolerated and causes tumor regressions in some patients.
Data were presented Saturday at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Dr. Martha Lacy of
the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Malcom MacKenzie, director of the Sacramento Medical Foundation Blood Center, are the principal
investigators of the studies.
As published in Blood (Vol. 94, No.10, p.122a, 1999), Dr. Lacy applied the immunotherapy to 10 multiple myeloma patients
who had residual disease after treatment with high dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. Following
immunotherapy, two patients showed complete clinical responses. The other patients remained under evaluation.
In a multicenter trial led by MacKenzie, the immunotherapy was applied to 46 patients whose disease was resistant to standard
or high dose chemotherapy. Forty-five percent of the 38 evaluable patients had minor responses or stabilization of their disease.
Half of all patients had stable disease for more than 39 weeks.
''These results provide positive indications that this immunotherapy approach seems to be effective in treating patients with
multiple myeloma, and we are expanding clinical testing,'' said Frank Valone, M.D., senior vice president of clinical and
regulatory affairs at Dendreon.
The immunotherapy treatment developed by Dendreon is designed to trigger the body's immune system to recognize and
destroy cancer cells. It involves isolating dendritic cells from a patient's blood and activating them with a protein, called an M
component or idiotype, that is specific for each patient. The activated dendritic cells are infused into the patient to stimulate an
immune response.
Dendreon Corporation (www.dendreon.com) is a private biotechnology company that develops and commercializes novel
products for the treatment of cancer, infectious disease and autoimmunity through its innovative manipulation of the immune
system. The company is focused on the development of novel therapeutic vaccines and antibodies for the treatment of cancer
using proprietary antigen discovery, antigen engineering and dendritic cell technologies.
NOTE TO REPORTERS: Dr. Frank Valone may be reached during the ASH meeting by pager 650/940-5014 or by
voicemail at 206/829-1480.
Contact:
Dendreon Corporation
Julie Rathbun, 206/829-1500
jrathbun@dendreon.com |
