Saheli Sadanand, Deputy Editor at Nature Medicine, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“NEW in Nature Medicine: encouraging early-phase trial results for a new vaccine in individuals with Lynch Syndrome!
One of the most impactful medical advances in the last two decades has been the HPV vaccine, which has reduced cervical cancer rates dramatically, and also prevents other types of HPV+ cancers. We need more preventative cancer vaccines.
People with Lynch Syndrome, a hereditary genetic condition driven by mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, have a much higher risk of developing cancer, particularly colorectal and endometrial cancers. They undergo routine screening, but there are no preventative treatments besides daily high-dose aspirin.
This off-the-shelf vaccine — which does not need to be customized to individual recipients — utilizes gorilla adenoviral and modified vaccinia Ankara vectors with over 200 shared, mutated peptides known to be present in MMR-deficient tumors. It has been previously tested in patients with MMR-deficient tumors, and shown to be safe and immunogenic.
Data from this phase 1b/2 trial in individuals with Lynch syndrome show that
- The vaccine was safe and well tolerated
- Neoantigen-specific T cells were induced, durable and detectable in most study participants at 1 year post vaccination
- Vaccine-induced CD8+ T cells acquired a memory phenotype and exhibited cytotoxic activity
- No participants had advanced adenomas or colorectal cancers at end-of-study colonoscopies
This study also highlights the importance of vaccine research, not only for the prevention of infectious diseases, but also for the prevention of cancer. Looking forward to seeing next steps for this vaccine and for this field more broadly. ”
Title: Nous-209 neoantigen vaccine for cancer prevention in Lynch syndrome carriers: a phase 1b/2 trial
Authors: Anna Morena D’Alise, Jason Willis, Fahriye Duzagac, Michael J. Hall, Marcia Cruz-Correa, Gregory E. Idos, Selvi Thirumurthi, Veroushka Ballester, Guido Leoni, Irene Garzia, Laura Antonucci, Lorenzo De Marco, Elisa Micarelli, Nan Deng, Laura Seclì, Sven Gogov, Wenli Dong, J. Jack Lee, Charles M. Bowen, Lana A. Vornik, Araceli Garcia-Gonzalez, Laura Reyes-Uribe, Ellen Richmond, Asad Umar, Powel H. Brown, Krishna M. Sinha, Luz Maria Rodriguez, Elisa Scarselli, Eduardo Vilar
Read the full study.
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