New clinical results support telomerase vaccination in breast cancer
A group of prominent scientists from the Abramson Cancer Center and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has published new clinical data on vaccination with the telomerase peptide I540 in 19 metastatic breast cancer patients.
The results show that vaccination with the I540 telomerase peptide led to changes in the tumor microenvironment, infiltration of T-cells and widespread tumor necrosis (tumor death). Furthermore, an exploratory analysis revealed that the median overall survival was significantly longer in those patients who achieved an immune response to the I540 peptide compared to patients who did not. Immune responses to a control peptide did not correlate with survival.
The I540 telomerase peptide and its use in cancer immunotherapy is claimed in Pharmexa's granted European patent. This and other claims on a number of telomerase peptides including GV1001 were recently upheld by the Appeal Board of the European Patent Office.
Original publication: Cancer Research 2007, 67: (21).
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