Imugene Limited (ASX:IMU) has had preclinical data and results for its licensed oncolytic virotherapy CheckVacc published in the prestigious Journal of American College of Surgeons.
Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is fatal and Imugene’s preclinical study presents an effective treatment against PDAC PC employing a novel oncolytic viral agent, CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 (CheckVacc).
The title of the work is 'Novel Chimeric Immuno-Oncolytic Virus CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 for the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer' authored by Yanghee Woo MD, Zhifang Zhang PhD, Annie Yang MD, Shyambabu Chaurasiya PhD, Anthony Park BA, Jianming Lu BA, Sang-In Kim BA, Min Li BA, Susanne Warner MD, Daniel Von Hoff MD and chairman of the Imugene OV SAB Professor Yuman Fong MD.
While the paper details the results seen in pancreatic cancer, CheckVacc will initially be tested in patients suffering Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), where equally important preclinical data has been collected.
Role of City of Hope
Imugene managing director and CEO Leslie Chong said the CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 virus was effective in infecting and killing human PDACs and producing functional anti-PD-L1 antibody.
She said: “IP delivery of CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 effectively reduces peritoneal tumour burden and improves survival after only one dose and is superior to IV delivery.
“The CF33 oncolytic virus (OV) was developed in the lab of Professor Yuman Fong, an internationally recognised surgeon and scientist at City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment centre for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases based in California.”
CF33 has been developed in two constructs – one version of the OV is armed with an immune checkpoint inhibitor inserted in the virus, which is known as CheckVacc and the other an unarmed construct, known as Vaxinia.
Journal of American College of Surgeons
The Journal of American College of Surgeons (JACS) is a monthly peer-reviewed journal with the goal of providing its readership with the highest quality rapid retrieval of information relevant to surgeons.
Contributions include original scientific articles, collective reviews, experimental investigations with clear clinical relevance, and a surgeon-at-work section (online only).