REPORT: New cancer vaccine shows ‘exciting’ results as patients remain disease-free

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From Fox News: An experimental cancer vaccine has shown promise in keeping certain cancers from coming back.

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

The patients had all undergone surgery to remove tumors and showed “signs of minimal residual disease” or traces of DNA, putting them at a high risk of recurrence, according to a UCLA press release.

More than 80% of pancreatic cancer patients experience recurrence of the disease after surgery, research shows — and for 40% to 50%, this happens within the first year.

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

CLICK HERE to read the full findings of the study published in Nature Medicine.

Below is an important excerpt from the UCLA Health press release:

The study followed 25 patients with either pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (20) or colorectal cancer (5) who had undergone surgery and showed signs of minimal residual disease, or traces of cancer DNA in the blood that often signal relapse.

Each patient received a series of injections with ELI-002 2P, which uses an amphiphile technology developed by Elicio Therapeutics that helps shuttle antigens directly to the lymph nodes, where immune responses are activated. 

Among the findings:

  • 84% of patients (21 out of 25) generated KRAS-specific T cells, including both CD4+ helper cells and CD8+ killer cells. Importantly, many of these T cells persisted over time.
  • In 24% of patients (3 pancreatic, 3 colorectal), the biomarkers associated with the tumor were completely cleared.
  • Patients with higher (above threshold) T-cell responses had a longer relapse-free survival compared to those with lower T-cell responses. In patients with higher responses, the median relapse-free survival was not reached, meaning so many patients were still cancer-free, a median time to relapse could not be calculated, versus 3.02 months (p=0.0002) in those with lower responses, and the median overall survival was not reached versus 15.98 months (p=0.0099) among those without strong T cell responses.
  • 67% of tested patients developed immune responses to additional tumor-associated mutations, suggesting potential for broader anti-tumor activity. 

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