The American Association for Cancer Research will hold their 102nd AACR Annual Meeting starting April 2nd. The event highlights the latest in cancer research, and ends on April 6th. AACR 2011 will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Late breaking clinical research includes two abstracts pertaining to Generex's preventative AE37 HER-2/neu HLA class II peptide vaccine.
Late breaking abstracts are ones submitted after the normal deadline, as outlined on the AACR website. The only available information regards the titles and authors of the two late breaking abstracts. This is what I have found:
Late-Breaking Poster Session
Clinical Research
Tue, Apr 5, 1:00 - 5:00 PM
#1. Presentation Title: Comparison of in vitro and in vivo immunologic responses in a prospective, randomized, single-blinded phase II trial evaluating the HER-2/neu peptide vaccines GP2 and AE37 in breast cancer patients.
Author Block: Alan K. Sears, Guy T. Clifton, Mark G. Carmichael, David C. Van Echo, Jarrod P. Holmes, Athina Zacharia, Yusuf Jama, Mohamed Mursal, Anna Chiplis, Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, George E. Peoples, Sathibalan Ponniah. Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX, Cancer Vaccine Development Program, Bethesda, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
#2. Presentation Title: Circulating regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25high CD127low) decrease in breast cancer patients after vaccination with a modified HER-2/neu HLA class II peptide (AE37) vaccine.
Author Block: Alan K. Sears, Guy T. Clifton, David C. Van Echo, Jarrod P. Holmes, Athina Zacharia, Yusuf Jama, Mohamed Mursal, Anna Chiplis, Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, George E. Peoples, Sathibalan Ponniah. Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX, Cancer Vaccine Development Program, Bethesda, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Click on the abstract titles to view the abstract pages.
While no additional data is currently available for these abstracts, the title of the second one presents a clear indicator that the AE37 vaccine is providing the desired inter cellular response. I'll borrow words from Dr Tai-You Ha: "There has been an explosion of literature focusing on the role of regulatory T (Treg) cells in cancer immunity. It is becoming increasingly clear that Treg cells play an active and significant role in the progression of cancer, and have an important role in suppressing tumor-specific immunity. Thus, there is a clear rationale for developing clinical strategies to diminish their regulatory influences, with the ultimate goal of augmenting antitumor immunity."
Previous data from AE37's Phase I and interim Phase II studies with HER2+ breast cancer patients, as well as the completed Phase I study with HER2+ prostate cancer patients illustrated significant decreases in circulating TReg frequencies. Those earlier reviews also highlighted an increase in DTH levels of vaccinated patients, via a Delayed-type Hypersensitivity Test, as well as a good correlation between TReg cell reduction and size of DTH to AE37. The earlier research led the review authors to conclude that AE37 "may be clinically useful". This modest statement appears to need a more stronger emphasis, as further research reveals the consistency of the vaccine's immunotherapeutic prowess.
We will learn more at AACR 2011.