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Immunological responses in cancer patients after vaccination with the therapeutic telomerase-specific vaccine Vx-001

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Abstract

Vx-001, an HLA-A*0201 restricted telomerase (TERT)-specific anti-tumor vaccine, is composed of the 9-mer cryptic TERT572 peptide and its optimized variant TERT572Y. We have previously shown that Vx-001 is non-toxic, highly immunogenic and in vaccinated NSCLC patients early specific immune response is associated with prolonged survival. The aim of the present study was to investigate the specific T-cell immune response against Vx-001. Fifty-five patients with chemo-resistant advanced solid tumors were vaccinated with TERT572Y (2 subcutaneous injections) followed by TERT572 peptide (4 subcutaneous injections) every 3 weeks. Specific immune response was evaluated by IFN-γ and perforin ELISpot and intracellular cytokine staining assays. TERT-reactive T cells were detected in 27 (51%) out of 53 evaluable patients after the 2nd vaccination and in 22 (69%) out of 32 evaluable patients after the completion of 6 vaccinations. Immune responses developed irrespective of the stage of disease and disease status before vaccination. Patients with disease progression at study entry who developed a post-vaccination-induced immunological response had a significant overall survival benefit compared to the post-vaccination non-responders. The Vx-001 vaccine is a promising candidate for cancer immunotherapy since it can induce a TERT-specific T-cell immune response that is associated with prolonged survival.

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Acknowledgments

Supported by the Cretan Association for Biomedical Research.

Conflict of interest

K. Kosmatopoulos and J. Menez-Jamet are employees and shareholders of Vaxon Biotech. All the other authors have no potential conflict of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Tumor Biology, Medical School, University of Crete, Voutes, 71110, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Eleni-Kyriaki Vetsika, Georgios Konsolakis, Despoina Aggouraki, Vassilis Georgoulias & Dimitris Mavroudis

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, University General Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Athanasios Kotsakis, Elisavet Papadimitraki, Soultana Christou, Vassilis Georgoulias & Dimitris Mavroudis

  3. Vaxon Biotech, Paris, France

    Jeanne Menez-Jamet & Kostas Kosmatopoulos

  4. Department of Medical Oncology, “IASO” General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Vassilis Georgoulias

Authors
  1. Eleni-Kyriaki Vetsika
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  2. Georgios Konsolakis
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  3. Despoina Aggouraki
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  4. Athanasios Kotsakis
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  5. Elisavet Papadimitraki
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  6. Soultana Christou
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  7. Jeanne Menez-Jamet
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  8. Kostas Kosmatopoulos
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  9. Vassilis Georgoulias
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  10. Dimitris Mavroudis
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Correspondence to Eleni-Kyriaki Vetsika.

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Vetsika, EK., Konsolakis, G., Aggouraki, D. et al. Immunological responses in cancer patients after vaccination with the therapeutic telomerase-specific vaccine Vx-001. Cancer Immunol Immunother 61, 157–168 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-011-1093-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-011-1093-4

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