From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Tue Mar 18 2003 - 22:02:41 MST
Geron Corporation Reports Publication of Research Supporting the Utility of
Telomerase as a Universal Antigen for Cancer Immunotherapy
March 18, 2003; Menlo Park, CA (Business Wire) --- Geron Corp. (Nasdaq:
GERN) announced today the publication of research results that support the
utility of telomerase for widespread applications in cancer immunotherapy.
The research, published in the March 2003 issue of Cancer Gene Therapy,
shows that different types of cancer cells, including cancer cells without
any known tumor-associated antigens, can be killed by telomerase-based
immunotherapy. Geron scientists studied Melanoma and Colon Cancer cell
lines that are known to express the tumor-associated antigens, MART-1 and
CEA-1, respectively, and an Osteosarcoma line lacking any known tumor
antigen. Telomerase was introduced into human dendritic cells by gene
transfer enabling the dendritic cells to generate telomerase-specific
cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) that killed all three tumor cell lines.
These findings show that telomerase vaccination can be used in all cancer
patients, even those with tumors that do not express any known
tumor-associated antigens.
Telomerase is activated in all human cancer types, including breast, lung,
colon, prostate, pancreatic, and hematologic tumors. Telomerase is
therefore an attractive candidate for use as a universal therapeutic cancer
vaccine. A Phase 1 study of Geron's ex-vivo telomerase vaccine is currently
underway in patients with metastatic prostate cancer at Duke University
Medical Center.
Study Results
In the study, Geron scientists were able to show that dendritic cells (the
most potent antigen presenting cells in the body) obtained from the
peripheral blood of normal healthy volunteers can be modified in vitro with
purified human telomerase DNA or with an adenoviral vector containing human
telomerase DNA. The resulting telomerase-modified dendritic cells then
present antigenic fragments of the telomerase protein to T-lymphocytes,
thereby enabling them to recognize and kill telomerase-positive cancer
cells. This study shows that dendritic cells genetically modified with the
telomerase gene can be used to generate an immune response against cancer
cells, and extends previous work that showed similar results using
telomerase RNA (Nature Medicine 2000;6:1011-1017) or telomerase peptides
(Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2000; 25:4796-4801) as antigens. These results
support the potential use of telomerase as a universal cancer vaccine
administered directly to cancer patients in order to induce a strong and
specific anti-telomerase immune response in which the patients' own
lymphocytes recognize and kill telomerase-expressing cancer cells.
"The universal expression of telomerase in cancer cells forms the
rationale for our ongoing programs in telomerase inhibition (GRN163),
telomerase oncolytic viruses (partnered with Genetic Therapy,
Inc/Novartis), and telomerase immunotherapy, currently in Phase 1 Clinical
Trials at Duke," said David B. Karpf, Geron's Executive Medical Director of
Oncology. "This study provides additional support for the use of telomerase
in cancer vaccine trials, and suggests that telomerase-based immunotherapy
may be useful for all cancer patients regardless of the tumor antigen
status of their cancer cells."
Physicians or patients who would like more information on the Duke
telomerase vaccine trial may contact the clinical trials coordinator at
919-668-3457.
CONTACT:
Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, CA David L. Greenwood; 650-473-7765 SOURCE:
Geron Corporation
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