Melanoma vaccine

NeoVax is a personalized neo-antigen vaccine that targets certain proteins in cancer cells. This drug contains fragments of proteins (epitopes) that protrude from the cell surface and serve for the immune system as triggers.

According to American scientists, NeoVax vaccine provides a long-term antitumor response in advanced melanoma. Four years ago, patients were treated with a personalized cancer vaccine, and after that, the immune response caused by NeoVax still remained stable and inhibited the growth of malignant cells effectively. The first phase of the study involved 8 people with an advanced stage cancer who underwent surgery for melanoma and they remained at high risk of recurrence. Patients received NeoVax 18 weeks after surgery. According to statistics, on average, after 4 years of observation, all 8 patients were alive, and 6 of them had no signs of active disease. Summarizing all above-mentioned information, T-cells of vaccinated patients not only “memorized” their original target epitopes, but also expanded the range and were able to learn to recognize other epitopes associated with melanoma.

Source: SCIENCE DAILY