Scancell founder says the company is ready to commercialise novel medicines to counteract cancer. Watch the video here.
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Results as a mono therapy will show about a 60% rate similar to Scib1 as a mono. It is Sclp belief that in combination with the CPI rates will again be similar to the SCIB1 combo.
Up at the 85 to 90%
Just looking at the link to Lindy’s talk at the Immuno-Oncology Summit, Lindy makes reference to a "universal cancer vaccine". Maybe I am mistaken but I have not heard her refer to a "universal cancer vaccine" previously :-
https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/cancer-vaccines#RobertMeehan
"SCIB1 a DC targeting DNA vaccine gives at impressive 85% response rate in combination with ipilimumab and nivolumab in advanced melanoma. Citrullination occurs in stressed tumor cells and makes an excellent target for a universal cancer vaccine. Modi-1 targeting citrullination is currently in phase II clinical trial."
I would assume universal, is just a substitute for off the shelf.
Universal could equally well mean that it can be applied to all / multiple cancers as citrullination is a common feature across them.
It could also mean that all stressed cancer cells go through citrullination and can therefore be targeted. The trick being that you have to create an environment where that stress occurs.
That is not an easy task but with enough research into the mechanisms plus the added aggression of the immune system created by Checkpoint Inhibitors, would it not be possible in all cases ??
Chelsea, I agree - am pretty it's universal as distinct from personalised cancer vaccines.
The “Universal cancer vaccine” comment refers to a process (citrullination) which is common across a number of tumour types. Hence if you target the process, you can address different types of cancer and target T-cells at them.
The distinction between personalised vaccines and “ready made” alternatives is, IMO, somewhat different. But, either way, the vaccine has potentially got a broad range of applications.
Ee
Possibly but they also used that term for SCIB1 which of course is a melanoma only vaccine and nothing to do with citrullination so I still think Chelsea's off the shelf as opposed to personalised is the intended meaning. Quite right too to highlight the advantage of Scancell's vaccines over those generating so much interest and excitment from BioNTech/Moderna .
Lindy has always said that citrullination occurs on many different proteins and within each protein specific epitopes.
Modi-1 comprises just three citrullinated peptides, two derived from vimentin and one from α-enolase.
From memory, Lindy's team initially identified of the order of 30 different citrullinated epitopes that could be targeted. At the time 8 had been tested and all 8 showed a promising response.
I think the point that Lindy is making is that Modi1 could possibly just be scratching the surface of what could be eventually achieved by targeting citrullination.
So, I think miavoce is correct in stating
"Universal could equally well mean that it can be applied to all / multiple cancers as citrullination is a common feature across them."
Ray - so what did she mean when describing SCIB1 as a potential universal vaccine?
"SCIB1 a DC targeting DNA vaccine gives at impressive 85% response rate in combination with ipilimumab and nivolumab in advanced melanoma. Citrullination occurs in stressed tumor cells and makes an excellent target for a universal cancer vaccine. Modi-1 targeting citrullination is currently in phase II clinical trial."
I believe the first sentence is about SCIB1 and the second and third sentences are about Modi1 and citrullination.
So the universal vaccine refers to targeting citrullination in general. Citrullination is not a target for SCIB1 but it is a target for Modi1.
I doubt whether Lindy considers Modi1, as it stands, to be a universal vaccine. I think she is just looking ahead to designing a Moditope vaccine targeting the very best combination of citrullinated epitopes and thereby being effective against a wide range of cancers.
Yes you're absolutely right in that quote it most definitely refers to Moditope but in other places - SCOPE results presentation for example she uses the term for SCIB1. Perhaps she meant the ImmunoBody platform as a whole rather than SCIB1.
From memory wasn't modi3, the aim of the grand challenge, supposed to be the universal vaccine. In which case, Lindy has not given up on the idea. Interesting, to say the least.
As far as Scib1 is concerned, maybe Lindy means the Scib1 could be used:
1) in the adjuvant setting as evidenced by the first trial
2) against unresectable melanoma as evidenced by the current trial
3) in early stages as proposed in the first trial's peer review
Just a thought
You can buy a hat that says "one size fits all" this means it fits different shape and size heads, not that you could wear it as a pair of pants.
So I'd say "universal" applies to the population it treats and not to cancer types.
All IMO so if you want to wear your hat as pants feel free to do so!
I agree with Ray. We are dealing with a platform technology. If the principle of targeting cancers via citrullination expression is established, then it becomes a matter of tweaking the epitopes for maximum impact.
IMO the reason for lack of recent newsflow on the Modi trial may well be connected to keeping patent opportunities under wraps for now.
Ee
Modi patents were filed years ago - what possible IP related reason could there be for witholding Modi1 trial updates?
A good debate on the meaning of universal. However, whilst wearing a hat as a pair of pants is not impossible, wearing a pair of pants as a hat has shown to have greater efficacy.
BS,
i know they were. And after a considerable delay, due to a discovery.
If I knew the answer to your question, I wouldn’t b3 sat here. Who knows what, if anything, may have been discovered. in (or alongside) the trial? For example, it would be reasonable to assume that at least one or two tumours have now been examined after being removed six weeks after being treated……so what did they discover from this?
This is what they said at the end of July:
“ Additionally, recruitment into the neoadjuvant arm of the Modi-1 trial in combination with CPI was also approved. This study will recruit 30 patients who will be randomised at diagnosis to receive either two doses of Modi-1 three weeks apart or two doses of Modi-1 plus one dose of CPI. Tumour biopsies will be taken prior to immunisation and from the tumour resection 6 weeks following the initial vaccination. The two tumour samples will allow the extent of T cell infiltration and activation pre- and post-Modi-1 vaccination to be assessed with and without a checkpoint inhibitor.”
….so what do these assessments show?
Needle in a hay stack
Jeroen Wissink
CEO Uneedle | Intradermic | therapeutic vaccine delivey | cancer immunology
excellent article
We have many millions of mature helper T cells with unique T cell receptors (TCRs) in our body. In case of a serious infection or onset cancer our life depends on just one of them. How the Immune System Actually Works from Philip Dettmer - Kurzgesagd helps us understand.
Unique T cells
This diversity of mature helper T cells is fantastic feature of our immune system, crucial for our body's ability to recognise and respond to diseases and fight the onset of cancer.
We have a cure for any virus, bacteria or mutated cell
So for any virus, bacteria or cancer cell we carry a few matching memory T cells with a corresponding TCR to their antigens. We have the cure in us. Incredible, but true. And this is not new; this part of the immune system has evolved over hundreds of millions of years with us. And not just in humans, it works for most creatures - eaten alive without the immune system - in a similar way.
Dendritic cells to find a single T cell
In case of a serious infection or a cluster of unwanted, mutated cells the dendritic cells - one of the most potent antigen presenting cells - must trigger the helper T cells. Dendritic cells sample unknown or unwanted cells and break them apart to present fragments as antigens on their surface via so called MHC-II molecules.
Target for these antigens presented are the helper T cells, and there are a few helper T cell - somewhere in the body - with the matching receptors (TCR) to the antigen. Dendritic cells must travel to find that specific matching T cell, which is floating somewhere in lymph, in a lymph node. Since there are only a few helper T cells for every unique TCR combination - among many millions of different TCR combinations - it may take a few days before the match is found and before the adaptive immune system kicks in. Relatively slow, but very effective.
A single T cell multiplies
It is considered it a bit of a miracle that the match is always be made. But it is, and this is one of the true beauties of the immune system.
Once found, this unique memory helper T cell is woken up and after some time - remember it has been asleep for years or decades - starts to clone from a single cell to many millions. The counterattack to eliminate the pathogens has begun.
Essentially it is math: the number of specific proteins we - humans and animals, but also the pathogens - can present in the form of an antigen on the surface is limited to a few millions and that seems to be unique enough to uniquely identify viruses, bacteria or cancer antigens as foreign, to be eliminated from the body.
Killer T cells and B cells
At this point the adaptive response becomes more diverse. Some initial helper T cells transform into transform into killer T cells that actually help attack, but most cells transform to do act
Cleaner,
The article got truncated in your post. Here's a link....
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/needle-hay-stack-jeroen-wissink-ateke/
As you say, worth a read.
The Moditope patent wasn't delayed due to a discovery - the discovery of Moditope was made and as is absolutely normal in bio/pharma, the following period was spent gathering the evidence to support the patent application. We have been told that Moditope has an incredibly broad patent and it would be unthinkable for a company to hold up clinical trial updates (which only need to be very general) while they research and submit another patent application.
I didn’t say the patent was delayed. I was reminding you that they deliberately held information back whilst they got enough info to support the patent application - and I am suggesting that similar commercial considerations may be behind the hiatus in updates
It is now nearly nine months since the trial expansion I mentioned below was announced - and they should have had some sort of readout within two months or so of dosing the first patient in that resection cohort. So I repeat…..what do these assessments show?
Careful choice of wording regarding Modi-1 suggest that results so far are below expectation ?
Or maybe in close period /NDA with itself , looks they are in close period since raise of extra fund and when in open period SP is in free fall.