RE: DTH2 Mar 2023 00:18
Crumbs thanks that was a great find on Page 15 https://www.bmj.com/bmj/section-pdf/1079078?path=/bmj/380/8370/This_Week.full.pdf
I was playing around for my own purposes and maybe a bit more readable like this, should others look in.
"How to build a cancer vaccine.
Although the jury is still out as to how to come up with effective, scalable vaccines for cancer, researchers are investigating a huge range of possibilities. Many are targeting particular cancers such as melanoma and some forms of breast cancer that are well suited to immunotherapy trials. Parker says, “The immune cells are already sitting there, resident, fighting the cancer.” What you need to do there, he explains, is tip the balance of that fight in the immune system’s favour. One interesting approach is under development by the Oxford based start-up Scancell. The firm’s Moditope platform aims to enlist CD4+ T cells, rather than CD8+ T cells. The former are sometimes called “helper” cells that coordinate activity by cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, which are those that directly challenge pathogens in the body.
Lindy Durrant, chief executive of Scancell, explains that the idea is to prime the CD4+ T cells in such a way that, when they enter tumours, they provoke inflammation in the cells, which would otherwise be absent. This should allow the CD4+ T cells to become cytotoxic themselves, detect the target peptides on the tumour cells, and then destroy them—rather like ripping the invisibility cloak off an intruder. “If you can really get good inflammation and good, targeted T cells in these tumours, you can just make [the tumours] disappear,” says Durrant. Referring to unpublished data from an ongoing trial, she mentions that one patient has demonstrated a 36% reduction in tumour size after just two immunisations (of a total of five). Biopsies from this patient are due to be analysed to confirm the presence and activity of immune cells. Durrant says, “I can’t really believe that result yet; we need to get more.” Around 140 patients will take part in the phase 1/2 trial, due to complete in 2026."
Nice one Crumbs - I wonder why Scancell can't push such messages a little more?
One day Rodney, one day ! ATB
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