Cancer Vaccine Week articles from April 2004

Cancer Vaccine Week archives from April 2004

Interleukin-15 enhances the antitumor efficacy of CD8+ T Cells.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Interleukin-15 enhances the antitumor efficacy of CD8+ T Cells. "Interleukin (IL)-15 and IL-2 possess similar properties, including the ability to induce T cell proliferation. However, whereas IL-2...

Commercial agreement announced for cancer vaccine product candidate.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Prima BioMed Ltd, subsidiary CancerVac, and Biomira Inc. (BIOM) announced a commercial agreement for the development and commercialization of CancerVac's most advanced cancer vaccine product candidate....

CDH1 and CDH13 methylation is a marker for more aggressive cervical cancer.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers find that cervical cancer patients with unmethylated CDH1/CDH13 had better disease-free survival. "Cervical cancer is the principal cause of death due to cancer in women. Five-year...

Phase II colorectal vaccine trial results updated.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biomira, Inc., (BIOM, BRA) provided an update of data from the phase II Theratope vaccine colorectal study of 20 patients. A Kaplan-Meier Survival and Time to Disease Progression Curve of the 20...

Epigenetic silencing of adhesion molecule ADAM23 occurs often in breast tumors.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The adhesion molecule A Desintegrin And Metalloprotease domain 23 gene (ADAM 23) may be downregulated during the progression of breast cancer, researchers say. "Altered cell adhesion is causally...

Male carriers of germline mutations in BRCA2 are at increased risk for cancer.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Men with BRCA2 mutations are at greater risk for cancer, especially before age 65, researchers report. "Major risks conferred by BRCA1 and BRCA2 in women are for cancers of the breast, ovary,...

Genaera extends alliance IL-9 alliance.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genaera Corp. (GENR) and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) announced a 2-year extension of a collaborative agreement on the joint discovery and development of novel genes and proteins as...

Vaccine development helps drive company's 25% revenue increase in 2003.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GenVec, Inc., (GNVC), announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003. For the year ended December 31, 2003, GenVec reported a net loss of $21.3 million or $0.65...

Researchers propagate infectious HPV16.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers develop a technique that allows the study of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) and its connection to squamous cell cancer of the cervix, head and neck. "HPV16 infection is a major...

CpG oligonucleotides elicit antitumor responses in melanoma models.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CpG oligonucleotides elicit antitumor responses in melanoma models. "For patients with advanced malignant melanoma, the 5 year survival rate with current treatment modalities is low. There is an...

Geron Corp. inks agreement for therapeutic cancer-vaccine technology.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Geron Corp. (GERN) and Merix Bioscience, Inc., have executed an agreement under which Geron has acquired the exclusive right to use Merix's platform technology in therapeutic cancer vaccines using the...

Gefitinib targets tyrosine kinase in non-small cell lung cancer.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers discuss gefitinib (ZD1839, Iressa) as a newly approved drug for treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). "Gefitinib (ZD1839, Iressa), a selective drug...

Board recommends continuations of Canvaxin phase III trial.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CancerVax Corporation (CNVX) announced that an independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) completed its planned, second, interim analysis of the company's randomized, double-blind,...

Simvastatin given with cytotoxic drugs is advantageous in myeloma cell lines.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers report greater antimyeloma activity when simvastatin (Sim) is used in combination with cytotoxic drugs. According to recent research from Israel, "We have evaluated the potential...

Telomerase expression may be a marker for prostate cancer.
April 5, 2004... 2004 APR 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers detect telomerase expression in a high number of prostate cancer smears, indicating that it could be a marker for prostate malignancy. According to recent research from Greece, "The aim...

Chemokine gene modification of dendritic cells improves antitumor activity.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chemokine gene modification of dendritic cells improves antitumor activity. "Previous animal studies conducted in our laboratory have shown that tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cells (TP-DC) can...

Recombinant BCG DNA vaccines and gene immunotherapy treat bladder cancer.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recombinant BCG DNA vaccines and gene immunotherapy treat bladder cancer. According to a study from Taiwan, "intravesical immunotherapy with live Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)...

Breast cancer vaccine well tolerated and safe in clinical trial patients.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pharmexa announced that data from the first clinical trial in the U.S. with the HER-2 Protein AutoVac vaccine show that the vaccine is well tolerated and safe and that it induces significant HER-2...

PTTG mRNA expression in primary breast cancer may indicate tumor aggressiveness.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The proto-oncogene pituitary tumor-transforming gene (PTTG) overexpression in breast tumor tissue is a potential predictor of tumor aggressiveness. "PTTG is described as abundantly overexpressed in...

Merix Bioscience announces cancer vaccines agreement.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Merix Bioscience, a Durham, North Carolina-based company pioneering therapeutic cancer vaccines, has signed a joint licensing agreement with California-based Geron Corp. The agreement could propel...

Technology that appears to arrest uncontrolled cancer growth licensed.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CancerVax Corporation (CNVX), a biotechnology company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of novel biological products for the treatment and control of cancer, announced that it...

ARK5 overexpression may signal progression of colorectal cancer.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers find higher ARK5 expression in tumor samples from more advanced cases. According to recent research published in the American Journal of Pathology, "A novel member of the human AMPK...

Cancer-drug maker reports increased revenues and decreased losses.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ImClone Systems, Inc., (IMCL) announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003. Total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2003, were $80.8 million...

New molecular-based method can assess protein expression in prostate cancer.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new system may be able to provide automated screening of prostate tissue biomarkers, researchers say. "Despite years of discovery and attempts at validation, few molecular biomarkers achieve...

Sodium butyrate and tributyrin are effective in vivo in prostate cancer.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Controlled trials are necessary to test the effect of sodium butyrate and tributyrin in patients at risk for or with prostate cancer, researchers say. "Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACs) are...

Molecular targeted therapies for small cell lung cancer are being studied.
April 12, 2004... 2004 APR 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Treatments for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) have only slightly improved survival over the past two decades and research is now investigating molecular targeted therapies, researchers say. "Small...

Exosomes act as potent cell-free peptide-based vaccines.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Exosomes act as potent cell-free peptide-based vaccines. According to a study from an international team of researchers, "Ideal vaccines should be stable, safe, molecularly defined, and...

Proteasomal targeting improves presentation of melanoma tumor antigen.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Proteasomal targeting and minigene repetition improve cell-surface presentation of a transfected, modified melanoma tumor antigen. "Melanoma antigen recognized by T cell 1 (MART-1) is regarded as...

EGF gene may be therapy target and prognostic marker for glioblastoma.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Single polymorphism in EGF gene may be useful as a tumor therapy target and prognostic marker for glioblastoma multiforme. "Glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of primary brain tumor...

Genetically altered mice predict toxicity for individual targeted cancer therapy.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genetically engineered mouse models can be used to predict toxicity in individuals treated with targeted cancer therapies. "Current trends foretell the use of cancer treatments customized to each...

Incomplete tolerance to the tumor-associated antigen MDM2 investigated.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists report the investigations of incomplete tolerance to the tumor-associated antigen MDM2 in a recent issue of International Immunology. "MDM2 is a tumor-associated antigen widely expressed...

Ezrin may promote tumor metastasis.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers report that an understanding of Ezrin, a membrane:cytoskeleton organizer, will provide valuable information about the process of metastasis. According to a study from the United States,...

High efficiency of low-affinity epitopes in cancer therapy reported.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists report the high vaccination efficiency of low-affinity epitopes in antitumor immunotherapy. "Most of the human tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) characterized thus far are derived from...

Natural killer T-like cells induced by thymoma expressing alpha-fetoprotein.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CD4+ murine natural killer T-like cells were induced by immunization with syngeneic thymoma expressing embryonic alpha-fetoprotein. According to a study from Japan, "In embryo, before the...

Peptide-based vaccines for cancer immunotherapy reviewed.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists review peptide-based vaccines for cancer immunotherapy in a recent issue of Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy. "One approach in the immunotherapy of cancer patients involves...

Urokinase plasminogen activator is increased during colon tumor transformation.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Beta-catenin plays a role in the transactivation of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), which is related to the conversion of colon adenomas to malignant tumors. According to recent research...

H. pylori CagA proteins may raise risk of gastric cancer in East Asians.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers report that patients in East Asia with the CagA-positive H. pylori strain are at high risk for greater mortality from gastric cancer. According to a study from Japan, "Recent molecular...

PD-L1/B7H-1 inhibits effector phase of tumor rejection by CD8+ T cells.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- PD-L1/B7H-1 inhibits the effector phase of tumor rejection by T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic CD8+ T cells. According to a study from the United States and Japan, "Although increased circulating...

ASCO accepts BLP25 liposomal vaccine phase IIB trial results for presentation.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biomira, Inc., (BIOM, BRA) announced that data from the company's phase IIb BLP25 Liposomal vaccine (L-BLP25) trial in non-small cell lung cancer has been accepted as the subject of a poster...

Specific PP2A subunits suppress tumors.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Specific PP2A subunits suppress tumors. "Reversible phosphorylation of proteins, catalyzed by kinases and phosphatases, is a key regulatory mechanism in the control of multiple cellular signal...

Mutations in more than 1% of cancer genes may contribute to human cancer.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A census of cancer genes indicate that mutations in more than 1% of genes contribute to human cancer. "A central aim of cancer research has been to identify the mutated genes that are causally...

Paget disease of bone can progress into painful complications.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers report that bisphosphonates are effective in relieving symptoms and reducing disease activity in patients with Paget disease of bone. "Paget's disease of bone is characterized by an...

Tumor-associated proteins in oral tongue carcinoma identified.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Tumor-associated proteins involved in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma have been identified. "Oral tongue carcinoma is an aggressive tumor that particularly affects chronic smokers, drinkers,...

Tumor-suppressors function differently in the nervous system.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers report that tumor suppressor mutations in the nervous system result in unique outcomes as opposed to other organs. According to recent research from the United States, "Tumor...

Specific PP2A complexes transform human cells to form or suppress tumors.
April 19, 2004... 2004 APR 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Specific PP2A complexes can transform human cells to form or suppress tumors. "The SV40 small t antigen (ST) interacts with the serine-threonine protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). To investigate the...

Scientists overcome immune resistance in dendritic cell vaccines for cancer.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have discovered why dendritic cell vaccines do not attack cancer as forcefully as expected, and they have demonstrated how to overcome this constraint by bolstering the vaccines'...

ISCOM-based vaccines show promise for cancer immunotherapy.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ISCOM-based vaccines show promise for cancer immunotherapy. According to a study from Australia, "Immunostimulating complex (ISCOM) vaccines are particulate antigen delivery vehicles composed of...

Immunogenicity against HPV enhanced by Salmonella enterica phenotype.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunogenicity against human papillomavirus type 16 virus-like particles is strongly enhanced by the PhoP[superscript]c phenotype in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. According to recent...

Scientists discover SSX, a new family of cancer vaccine targets.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists from the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative (CVC) have discovered that the cancer-specific protein, SSX-2, induces a spontaneous immunological reaction against cancer cells in melanoma patients,...

Prevention and genetic testing for breast cancer vary geographically.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A survey conducted in three countries finds differences in the way testing and prophylactic surgery are performed, researchers report. According to recent research from Canada, "The discovery...

Genencor sells its therapeutic vaccine program in multimillion dollar deal.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genencor International, Inc., (GCOR) announced that it has agreed to sell its therapeutic vaccine program to Belgian biotechnology company Innogenetics, NV, (INNX). Innogenetics will develop and...

Bruceantin is active against tumors in culture and in xenograft models.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers say that bruceantin is active against some cancers in culture and xenograft models and should be evaluated in clinical trials for its effect in hematological malignancies. According to...

Data demonstrate vaccine technology's potential to treat/prevent cancer.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedImmune, Inc., (MEDI) and Cerus Corp. (CERS) announced preclinical results demonstrating the effectiveness of a therapeutic vaccine technology in suppressing the growth of certain tumors. ...

Preclinical data for oncolytic virus therapy released.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cell Genesys, Inc., (CEGE) announced that it has developed an oncolytic (cancer cell-killing) virus with the potential ability to target and kill more than 85% of cancer types in preclinical studies....

Designer glycopeptides for elimination of carcinomas developed.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers are developing designer glycopeptides for cytotoxic T cell-based elimination of carcinomas. "Tumors express embryonic carbohydrate antigens called tumor-associated carbohydrate...

Exosomes transfer functional MHC class I/peptide complexes to dendritic cells.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dendritic cell-derived exosomes transfer functional MHC class I/peptide complexes to dendritic cells. "Current immunization protocols in cancer patients involve CTL-defined tumor peptides. Mature...

Kunjin virus replicon vaccine protects against HPV-expressing tumor.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recombinant Kunjin virus replicon vaccines induce protective T-cell immunity against human papillomavirus 16 E7-expressing tumor. According to a study from Australia, "The persistence of the E7...

New antigenic peptide encoded by several MAGE genes identified.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have identified a new antigenic peptide presented by HLA-Cw7 and encoded by several MAGE genes using dendritic cells transduced with lentiviruses. "Antigens encoded by MAGE genes are of...

Peptide that mediates tumor cell lysis induces cytotoxic T lymphocytes.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A novel HLA-A2-binding peptide that mediates tumor cell lysis induces adipophilin-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. According to recent research published in the journal Cancer Research,...

Peptide vaccination induces CD4+ T cells reactive to class I tumor peptide.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Evidence indicates that peptide vaccination can induce HLA-DR-restricted CD4+ T cells reactive to a class I tumor peptide. According to a study from Japan, "Vaccination with class I tumor peptides...

Mucin-2 protein antibody combinatorial TX[superscript]1TX[superscript]2T peptide mixtures.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists report the heteroclitic recognition of combinatorial TX[superscript]1TX[superscript]2T peptide mixtures by mucin-2 protein specific monoclonal antibody. According to recent research...

Dendritic-cell-based immunotherapy of B-cell malignancies reviewed.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists review dendritic-cell-based immunotherapy of B-cell malignancies in a recent issue of the journal Cytotherapy. According to recent research from Germany, "B-cell malignancies are a...

Positive results reported from phase IIb BLP25 liposomal vaccine trial.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biomira, Inc., (BIOM, BRA) and Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, said preliminary results from a randomized, open-label phase IIb trial of BLP25 liposomal vaccine (L BLP25) in patients with Stage IIIb...

CancerVax announces presentation of phase II data on Canvaxin.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CancerVax Corporation (CNVX) announced the presentation of data indicating that Canvaxin, the company's investigational specific active immunotherapy currently in phase III clinical trials for the...

gp100[subscript]209-2M peptide vaccine induces immune response in melanoma patients.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunization using gp100[subscript]209-2M peptide of human lymphocyte antigen-A2+ in stage I-III melanoma patients induces significant increase in antigen-specific effector and long-term memory CD8+ T...

E-cadherin is important in prostate cancer cell invasion.
April 26, 2004... 2004 APR 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Study results suggest that E-cadherin plays an important role in regulating the invasive potential of prostate cancer cells through a unique paracrine mechanism, researchers say. "The role(s) of...