A new vaccine platform in the fight against cancer

In 5 seconds A research team led by Moutih Rafei, a professor in UdeM’s Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, is perfecting a new cancer vaccine platform

Moutih Rafei heads a research project in collaboration with the Jewish General Hospital that has just been awarded over $1.3 million in funding from the non-profit biopharmaceutical research consortium CQDM through Quebec Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy and Defence Therapeutics, a biotech company specializing in the development of new generation vaccines.

Cancer vaccines have been the focus of numerous studies over the past decade. However, so far this promising immunotherapy-based strategy has failed to produce an effective and safe immune response in line with clinical expectations.

Moutih Rafei, professor in Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at University of Montreal

One vaccine for many cancers

Now a team led by Rafei, a professor under grant, is taking up the challenge of developing a new vaccine using a technology called ACCUM, a biological platform initially designed for delivering biologic drugs to target cells.

Preclinical trials have shown that ACCUM can be used to convert mesenchymal stem cells into powerful antigen-presenting cells that activate the patient’s immune system to fight cancer.

In this collaborative project, the research team will finalize the preclinical studies, establish a manufacturing protocol for the vaccine and conduct Phase 1 clinical trials on patients with melanoma.

Not only is this technology much simpler and less costly than other approaches currently under development, but it could potentially be used for a wide range of cancers and therefore improve the lives of countless patients.

“Our project represents a major step forward in the fight against cancer, one that we believe will radically transform the field of cell-based vaccination and allow us to one day target many other types of cancer.”  - Moutih Rafei, professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at UdeM’s Faculty of Medicine

Read the CQDM's press release

Source: CQDM

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