Gothenburg, Sweden, 2014-03-06 08:40 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Promising data for Immunicum's CD70-technology for adoptive immunotherapy are today being published in a scientific journal. The results indicate a robust method to expand tumor-specific T-cells with improved quality in comparison with established expansion protocols.
In a publication entitled "Allogeneic lymphocyte-licensed DCs expand T-cells with improved anti-tumor activity and resistance to oxidative stress and immunosuppressive factors", published today in the American Journal Molecular Therapy- Methods & Clinical Development (published by Nature Publishing Group in collaboration with the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy), Professor Essand's research group at the Rudbeck Laboratory in Uppsala compared Immunicum's patent-pending expansion protocol called CD70-CD3 with established expansion protocols.
The article shows that T-cells expanded by Immunicum's protocols, compared to established protocols, have better viability, better ability to kill tumor cells in the test tube, as well as superior proliferative response during tumor cell killing when the cells are subjected to immunosuppressive factors that reflect the "hostile" tumor environment.
Adoptive immunotherapy with tumor specific T-cells is a treatment strategy in which the patient's T-cells are isolated and in some cases, genetically engineered to specifically recognize cancer cells. In order to have a sufficient number of tumor specific T-cells this also requires an expansion period in the test tube before the cells are injected back into the patient. There are currently two established expansion methods, "rapid expansion protocol" and " bead expansion protocol".
- T-cells expanded with these methods and then used in clinical studies usually show a high sensitivity to immunosuppressive factors present in the tumor, resulting in that the injected T-cells lose their tumor killing ability and quickly die out. Our preclinical studies now show that T-cells that have been expanded with Immunicum's CD70-technology for adoptive immunotherapy has greater potential to effectively eliminate cancer cells compared with the two established expansion protocols used today. It is further highly interesting that T-cells expanded with our protocol express much lower levels of the immunosuppressing PD-1 receptor which act as an immunological brake when the cells come into a hostile tumor environment, says Immunicum's Chief Scientific Officer Alex Karlsson-Parra.
Immunicum's immunotherapy plattforms are based on over 30 years of research in the field of transplantation immunology. The Company's shares have been traded since April 22, 2013 on NASDAQ OMX First North under the ticker IMMU.
For further information please contact:
Jamal El-Mosleh, CEO of Immunicum, +4631 41 50 52,
[email protected]
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Tel: +468-545 013 31. www.redeye.se.
About Immunicum AB (publ):
Immunicum AB (publ) develops cancer immunotherapies. Its two main groups of therapeutic cancer vaccines, SUBCUVAX® and INTUVAX®, and the method of expansion of tumor-specific T-cells (CD70) is based on the Nobel prize awarded discovery of the dendritic cell and its central role in the activation of the specific immune response. Since the raw material consists of allogeneic dendritic cells, Immunicum's products can be produced in large scale. The vaccines are now undergoing clinical trials in renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma.