The experimental vaccine targets mutations in pancreatic and colorectal cancer

An experimental vaccine on cancer has proven promising by preventing certain cancers from returning.

In a phase 1 clinical trial, partially conducted by the UCLA Health Jonsson Understanding Cancer Center, the researchers tested the vaccine (ELI-002 2P) with 25 patients who had been treated for pancreatic and colorectal cancer.

Patients have all undergone surgery to eliminate tumors and showed “minimum residual disease signs” or DNA traces, with a high risk of recurrence, according to a UCLA press release.

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More than 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer have a recurrence of the disease after surgery, shows research – and for 40% to 50%, this occurs in the first year.

For colorectal cancer, the recurrence rate is between 30% and 50% and is most likely to occur in the first two years after surgery.

In a phase 1 clinical trial, carried out partly by the UCLA Health Jonsson Understanding Cancer Center, the researchers tested the vaccine with 25 patients who had been treated for pancreatic and colorectal cancer. (istock)

Mutations of the KRAS gene are responsible for half of colorectal cancers and more than 90% of pancreatic cancers. The vaccine, which targets these mutations, was given via a series of injections to activate an immune response in lymph nodes.

A majority (21 out of 25) of patients has generated “specific Kras T cells”, which indicates a stronger immune response. Those with higher responses from T cells have shown a survival without a longer relapse than those with lower responses, the researchers revealed.

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For three patients with colorectal cancer and three patients with pancreatic cancer, the vaccine seemed to eliminate all the biomarkers of the disease.

Among the patients who showed the strongest immune response, a majority was still without cancer almost 20 months after receiving the vaccine.

The results were published in Nature Medicine.

A majority (21 out of 25) of patients has generated “specific Kras T cells”, which indicates a stronger immune response. (istock)

“This is an exciting advance for patients with cancer focused on Kras, in particular pancreatic cancer, where recurrence after standard treatment is almost a given and effective therapy is limited,” said the first author of the study, Zev Wainberg, MD, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine in UCL Jonsson comprehensive Cancer Center, in the version.

“We have observed that patients who have developed strong immune responses to the vaccine have remained without illness and survived much longer than expected.”

“The new UCLA cancer vaccine is very promising as a major tool against these cancers.”

In another observation, 67% of trial patients showed immune responses to “additional changes associated with the tumor”, indicating that the vaccine could be used to remove “a wider anti-tumor activity”.

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According to the researchers, one of the advantages of the ELI-002 2P is that it is considered to be “standard”, which means that it is a standardized mass vaccine that does not have to be personalized for each individual patient.

“This study shows that the ELI-002 2P vaccine can safely and effectively train the immune system to recognize and fight against cancer mutations,” said Wainberg.

For colorectal cancer, the recurrence rate is between 30% and 50% and is most likely to occur in the first two years after surgery. (istock)

“It offers a promising approach to generate precise and durable immune responses without the complexity or cost of fully personalized vaccines.”

The team has already finished registering the participants in a phase 2 study which will test ELI-002 7P, the next iteration of the vaccine which will target a “wider set” of Kras mutations, according to the press release.

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The study was sponsored and financed by Elicio Therapeutics, the Massachusetts Company which developed the vaccine.

He was conducted in conjunction with the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

More than 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer have a recurrence of the disease after surgery, shows research – and for 40% to 50%, this occurs in the first year. (istock)

Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News principal medical analyst, was not involved in the study, but said that targeted therapies are becoming increasingly important tools in the fight against cancer.

“Solid tumors, in particular the pancreas, can be difficult to treat because they are not as mutagenic (capable of inducing or provoking mutations) such as hematological malignant tumors (blood cancers) or melanoma, for example, they therefore do not have as many targets ready for immunotherapy,” he told Fox News Digital.

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“The new UCLA cancer vaccine is very promising as a major tool against these cancers, as it” program “the immune system to target these changes and has been demonstrated in the study of nature to arouse a strong clinical response.”