Scancell pleased with progress on 'Moditope' vaccines

(Sharecast News) - Novel immunotherapies developer Scancell Holdings updated the market on the development of its second vaccine from its proprietary 'Moditope' platform, Modi-2, on Tuesday, reporting that pre-clinical data demonstrated that homocitrullinated peptides induced highly potent T-cell responses, tumour rejection and increased survival in murine models.The AIM-traded firm said Moditope represented a "completely new" class of potent and selective immunotherapy agents based on stress-induced post-translational modifications (siPTMs), which could reportedly have a profound effect on the way that cancer immunotherapies were developed.Scancell said its lead Moditope vaccine, Modi-1, acted by stimulating the production of CD4 T cells using citrullinated tumour-associated peptide epitopes, which overcame self-tolerance and destroyed tumour cells.Modi-2, meanwhile, exploited a new modification, stimulating the production of CD4 T-cells using homocitrullinated tumour-associated peptide epitopes.Whereas citrullination involved the conversion of the amino acid arginine to citrulline, the company said the process of homocitrullination involved the conversion of lysine to homocitrulline.Scancell said it believed that second mechanism of action had the potential to broaden the utilisation of the Moditope platform.Modi-2 was currently in pre-clinical development, with work underway to characterise specific homocitrullinated peptides for clinical development that had the potential to address different cancer indications to Modi-1, including tumours with a "particularly immunosuppressive" environment.The Modi-2 peptide family was the subject of new intellectual property applications. with a view to extend the company's dominant patent position in relation to post-translational modifications of cellular proteins and their application in the treatment of cancer, the board explained."We are pleased to be able to provide an update on the progress of our second Moditope vaccine, Modi-2," said Scancell's chief scientific officer Lindy Durrant."The data clearly demonstrates the potential of homocitrullinated, as well as citrullinated, tumour-associated peptide epitopes to be developed for the treatment of solid cancers."