PDS Biotechnology Corporation Products (Page 3)
Cancers with associated host self-antigens
Cancers expressing host self-proteins not produced in non-cancerous tissue make these unique self-antigens potential targets for cancer-specific immunotherapy. A number of prevalent cancers including colon cancer, melanoma (the most aggressive form of skin cancer), breast cancer, non small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer and others fall into this category. The knowledge of the unique proteins expressed by these cancers make the Versamune™ technology ideal for developing immunotherapies to treat such cancers. The ability to break immune tolerance to such tumors expressing unique self-antigens has been demonstrated in early studies with PDS0102.
PDS0102 – Treatment of Melanoma
Melanoma, a form of skin cancer, is currently the seventh most common cancer in the United States. Melanoma comprises just 5% of all skin cancers but it is the most deadly. This year, more than 100,000 cases of the disease are expected to be diagnosed in the seven major pharmaceutical markets. No effective therapies exist for melanoma and the five-year survival of advanced patients remains below 20%.
PDS Biotechnology’s pre-clinical studies in melanoma have been partially supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute branch of the National Institutes of Health. In-vivo pre-clinical animal studies in a skin tumor model of melanoma demonstrated high efficacy of PDS0102 (VersamuneTM-based formulation containing melanoma antigens) in eradicating the tumor with a single injection.
Additional studies were performed in a metastatic model of the cancer. Melanoma is a very aggressive skin cancer and although the cancer originates in the skin, most deaths are caused by metastasis of the cancer to other organs in the body. PDS therefore performed in-vivo animal studies evaluating the potency of PDS0102 in treating melanoma in a metastatic lung model of the cancer.
The picture below shows the efficacy of a single dose of PDS0102 in treating the metastatic cancer. The 2 formulations of PDS0102 demonstrate effective regression of the tumors (dark areas) unlike what is seen in the untreated and empty nanoparticle-treated control animals.
