A Shot in the Arm Against Breast Cancer
A breast cancer vaccine currently being tested in a Phase II trial has demonstrated to be safe and well tolerated in patients according to a paper to be published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The therapeutic breast cancer vaccine AE37 uses a peptide antigen (immune-stimulating fragment) of a cancer gene known as HER-2/neu. This gene/protein is present in many types of cells, but it is over-expressed in a high proportion of breast cancers as well as many others. The vaccine is being developed by Antigen Express, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Generex.
Dr. George Peoples of the Brooke Army Medical Center, who presented his findings at this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), found the vaccine to be safe and well-tolerated in women whose cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes in phase I study.
In order for therapeutic vaccines to be effective, they must educate the immune system to recognize the antigen present in the vaccine as harmful and to fight it off when it is encountered in the cancer.
The AE37 vaccine is based on one of two proprietary platform technologies established at Antigen Express. The technology helps the body fight cancer by modifying fragments of cancer-associated antigens to increase their potency in stimulating the immune system. The vaccine also leaves an imprint on the immune system to fight cancer should it ever reoccur.
Key to this vaccine breakthrough is the addition of a peptide molecule that acts as a facilitator to immune cells and stimulates the desired immune response.
“Think of the vaccine as a Trojan horse: to get the soldiers into the city you put them into a delivery system. Except the ‘horse’ in this case does not really go inside the T-cell,” explains Dr. Peoples. “The vaccine helps the antigen find a ‘receptor’ on the surface of the T-cell so that the immune system, once ignited, will seek out and destroy the cancer.” “The completion of the first trial is a significant milestone,” commented Anna Gluskin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Generex. “While it may be a few years before we bring this to market, entering Phase II trials represents another step closer to the realization of a viable breast cancer vaccine in our lifetime.” For more information, go to www.generex.com.
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