Oct 15 2012
Genetic Immunity, a leader in immunotherapy technology product development, and DKFZ (German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany) signed a collaborative agreement to develop a DNA-based vaccine for the treatment of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection that causes cervical cancer and other cancers of the anus, penis, vulva, vagina, and oropharynx. Present HPV vaccines (Cervarix, Gardasil) have no therapeutic effect on HPV-related diseases, so they will not treat existing diseases or conditions caused by HPV.
The Division of Genome Modifications and Carcinogenesis led by Prof. Dr. Lutz Gissmann will initiate a preclinical research program to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the DKFZ's HPV-specific plasmid DNA using Genetic Immunity's nanomedicine formulation and Langerhans cell-targeting administration technologies. DKFZ is a world leading research center in tumor virology. Harald zur Hausen was awarded the Nobel Medicine Prize for his work on HPV-caused cancer of the cervix. Zur Hausen, former Scientific Director of the German Cancer Research Center, is recognized for finding that cervical cancer is caused by viral infections. His research made it possible to develop a vaccine against one of the most frequent cancers in women. Zur Hausen shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for discovering HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"There is a huge unmet medical need for such cancer vaccine, because vaccines we have developed earlier do not provide protection against cancer when used for treatment of existing conditions caused by HPV. Our goal is to provide protection against cancer for patients after the onset of sexual activity, after they might be exposed to HPV," said Dr. Julianna Lisziewicz, CEO of Genetic Immunity.
Genetic Immunity has successfully tested in clinical trials DermaVir, a candidate immunotherapy for the cure of HIV. This new collaboration is using the clinically proven technology expanding the pipeline to another deadly viral disease that causes cancer. The partners will test whether HPV-specific memory T cells induced by Genetic Immunity's nanomedicine products could protect against cancer after infection has occurred.
"We found that Genetic Immunity technology is unique to target the vaccine DNA into the nucleus of the Langerhans cells. We believe that it will provide a breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy. We pioneered HPV prophylactic vaccines with new innovations and we would like to expand this tradition to therapeutic setting," said Dr. Prof. Gissmann of DKFZ.
Source: http://www.geneticimmunity.com/