Bernard A. Fox: Interesting Development in Cancer Vaccine Research Targeting Dark Proteome

Bernard A. Fox, Co-Founder/President/CEO at UbiVac, shared a post on LinkedIn by CureVac, adding:

“Very interesting development for the cancer vaccine space – particularly the shared TAA aeTSA and Dark Genome-derived, Dark Proteome, Dark Matter epitopes presented by cancer cells – That are absolutely the hotest targets for cancer treatment!

That is why Cancer Research UK (CRUK) had the vision to announce a Cancer Grand Challenge topic on cancer’s Dark Proteome.

This relatively recent discovery that the so-called “Junk” DNA actually does something and appears to play a critically important role in why some cells become cancers.

Early work from Jonathan Vewdell and Perreault Claude and many colleagues have explained why they were missed. Which was further clarified by observations from the lab of Alena Gros Vidal and colleagues at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).

Last month work from William Freed-Pastor, Tyler Jacks, Steven Carr, Drs. Ely and Kulstad and others published in Science, coupled with that of Prof. Perreault, Pierre Thibault, Anca Apavaloaei and others at McGill University + Michal Bassani-Sternberg, Daniel E. Speiser, Grégory Ehx – published Nature Cancer – really shook the cancer neoantigen vaccine space and provides insight into why Gritstone and Neon therapeutics trials induced immunity in the peripheral blood, but failed to increase response rates over checkpoint blockade alone.

Investigators of phase I clinical trials need to push pharma and biotech and funding agencies to fund biopsy and analysis of pre- and on-treatment tumor samples.

A good example of how this can be successful is Incyte’s support of extensive monitoring of Rom Leidner’s trial of UbiVac’s Dark Proteome cancer vaccine, DPV-001 combined with Incyte’s anti-PD-1 (retifanlimab) that tripled RR in rec/metastatic HNSCC.

The team at Earle A. Chiles Research Institute / Providence Cancer Institute obtained biopsies from 17 of 18 patients and obtained insights on what prevented other patients from responding. My colleagues and I plan to use that information to guide our next trial and are grateful Incyte had the vision to support this effort.

To learn more on this topic consider attending VAX ON2025 / Vivenko in Milan 01OCT2025 with Paolo A. Ascierto & I.

Or SITC2025 / Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) annual meeting in Washington DC Nov 5-9, 2025 where Christopher A. Klebanoff, M.D. and I will chair a session dedicated to cancer’s DarkProteome -THIS WILL BE A GREAT SESSION!!”

Quoting CureVac‘s Post:

“Today marks a new chapter for CureVac as we entered into a definitive Purchase Agreement with BioNTech, another pioneering German leader in mRNA innovation, pursuant to which BioNTech intends to acquire all of the shares of CureVac. This transaction brings together two deeply complementary companies, united by a shared belief in the power of science and the possibilities of mRNA to change lives.

The transaction recognizes the tremendous value of our platform and capabilities as well as the excellence, commitment, and belief of our people.

Alexander Zehnder, CEO of CureVac:

“To me, this transaction is more than a business decision, it represents a shared commitment to leverage the full potential of mRNA as a disruptive technology to develop transformative therapies with greater scale and speed. For more than two decades, both companies have operated with related ambitions, often tackling challenges from different angles. This transaction aims at combining complementary scientific capabilities, proprietary technologies, and manufacturing expertise in the mRNA field under one roof.”

The goal of this all-stock transaction is to jointly allow for an accelerated and broadened development of mRNA-based therapies, particularly in oncology and other areas, creating long-term value for patients, shareholders, Germany, and society as a whole.

For more information and important disclaimers, please refer to the press release that we issued jointly with BioNTech earlier today.”

Read Full Press Release.