ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTC: IMUC.OB) (IMUC), a biotechnology company, announced the filing of a provisional U.S. patent application relating to its novel vaccine technology targeting cancer stem cells. The patent application relates to new peptide candidates that may significantly expand the potential target patient population for the company’s cancer stem cell vaccine product candidate, ICT-121. Many cancer therapies are limited by their ability to be used only in patients with certain human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types. Identification of the new peptides for use in IMUC’s vaccine should enable the use of IMUC’s product candidate in patients with many different HLA types. The Company currently has 25 issued or pending patents.

“This patent application supports our broad and growing portfolio of intellectual property. ICT-121 is an immunotherapy that targets cancer stem cells - a very exciting approach given the product’s mission of destroying cancer cells at their root as well as its proven ability in preclinical studies to be highly targeted for destroying cancer cells,” stated Manish Singh, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of IMUC. “This product may have applicability to multiple types of cancer, but our first clinical target will be glioblastoma. We anticipate filing an Investigational New Drug (IND) application next quarter to begin a Phase I clinical trial of ICT-121.”

About ICT-121

ICT-121 is IMUC’s cancer stem cell (CSC) vaccine product candidate that consists of a peptide to stimulate a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response to CD133, which is generally overexpressed on the CSCs. It is designed as an “off-the-shelf” vaccine. IMUC will initially evaluate it in a Phase I clinical study for glioblastoma which the company expects to file an IND for in the third quarter of this year. While glioblastoma will be the initial target for ICT-121, CD133 is also overexpressed in colon cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, multiple myeloma and melanoma, providing many potential cancer targets for this CSC vaccine in the future.

Source
ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd.

Researchers have identified a genetic glitch that could lead to development of neuroblastoma, a deadly form of cancer that typically strikes children under 2.

Two University of Florida scientists are part of the multicenter team of researchers that made the discovery, which could pave the way for better treatments that target the disease, according to findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“What makes our study so important is that although neuroblastoma accounts for 7 percent of childhood cancers, it is responsible for 15 percent of deaths in children with cancer,” said Wendy London, Ph.D., a research associate professor of epidemiology, biostatistics and health policy research at the UF College of Medicine and a member of the UF Shands Cancer Center. “This paper adds yet another gene in the pathway that could lead to tumorigenesis (tumor formation) of neuroblastoma.”

Neuroblastoma forms in developing nerve cells, with tumors most often found on a child’s adrenal gland. It’s the most common form of cancer in babies and the third most common childhood cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

Led by John J. Maris, M.D., director of the Cancer Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers performed what’s known as a genome-wide association study to uncover errors in DNA that could be associated with neuroblastoma.

To do this, researchers analyzed the genetic makeup of 846 patients with neuroblastoma, whose samples were derived from the Children’s Oncology Group Neuroblastoma Tumor Bank, and 803 healthy patients in a control group.

On the basis of their initial findings, the researchers performed a second validation analysis, pinpointing that a glitch called a “copy number variation” in a single chromosome is associated with neuroblastoma. Copy number variation has to do with the gain, loss or duplication of snippets of DNA.

“This is part of series of papers that creates the bigger picture, an understanding of the genetic mechanisms that lead to neuroblastoma,” said London, the principal investigator for the Children’s Oncology Group Statistics and Data Center at UF. “We are searching for genetic targets to treat with therapy.”

The researchers reported additional genetic links in Nature Genetics in May. The team discovered that on the gene called BARD1, six single-nucleotide polymorphisms - variations in tiny pieces of DNA - were also associated with neuroblastoma.

“Only two years ago we had very little idea of what causes neuroblastoma,” said Maris, who led both studies. “Now we have unlocked a lot of the mystery of why neuroblastoma arises in some children and not in others.”

Although neuroblastoma is one of the more common childhood cancers, it is relatively rare overall when compared with more common adult cancers, which has proved to be a challenge for researchers trying to uncover its causes, said Peter Zage, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Cancer Hospital at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

“Dr. Maris’ group has been able to collect a relatively large number of cases for a neuroblastoma study and so has been able to identify these genetic variations and specific genes to provide us with some new avenues for therapy that we probably would not have been able to identify looking at the smaller cohorts of patients we each see at our individual institutions. In that sense, it’s certainly an amazing leap forward in our understanding of the disease.”

The discovery does hold promise for developing treatments, but London cautions that these potential “targeted therapies” won’t work on all neuroblastoma patients. Not all neuroblastoma patients have this particular genetic anomaly, and not all children with this anomaly will develop neuroblastoma. Development of neuroblastoma is complicated and can occur because of multiple reasons, arising after a complex chain of events, London said.

“What’s amazing is there are so many different ways for tumorigenesis to occur,” London said. “That’s the reason it is so hard to treat and cure cancer, or even to understand why it happens and how it happens.”

All the researchers involved in the study are members of the Children’s Oncology Group, the only National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute pediatric cancer cooperative group. The group performs clinical trials, collects specimens and performs statistical analysis related to pediatric cancers. UF is one of three institutions with a COG Statistics and Data Center, where study design, data collection and statistical analysis for COG research occurs.

Source
The University of Florida Health Science Center

The Bone Cancer Research Trust is calling for new treatments for bone
cancers affecting children and young people. This includes osteosarcoma and
Ewing’s sarcoma, the two most common forms of primary bone cancer.

A study funded by the Bone Cancer Research Trust published in 2009 shows
that the survival of children and young adults with bone cancer in the UK has
not improved for 20 years.(1) More research is urgently needed to find new
treatments. When new treatments are developed, they must be introduced
without delay to avoid any more young people dying of this disease. On
average a young person cured of this disease would have another 60 years of
life.

One new treatment for osteosarcoma that improves survival is currently
being considered for funding by NICE. BCRT is asking that this drug be made
available as quickly as possible.

Michael Francis, chairman of the BCRT said ‘Too many of the children and
young people with bone cancer still die from their disease. We need to make
bone cancer a priority and we urgently need more research to identify
effective new treatments. The Government needs to play its part and
streamline the process for introducing new treatments into the UK.’

To support people affected by bone cancer, the Bone Cancer Research Trust
is holding an Awareness Week during 20 - 27 June 2009. The theme for the week
is the need to improve survival for these young people: this means greater
priority, more research and new treatments. The week will finish with the 3rd
Conference for bone cancer patients and their supporters, to be held in St
Albans on Saturday 27 June. The conference will cover recent research and
will give patients and their families the opportunity to question experts in
bone cancer.

Twenty eight year old Hannah Millington, from Bromsgrove, who has been
treated for osteosarcoma says, “‘Awareness Week and the Patients’ and
Supporters’ Conference are key events for patients. They are an opportunity
to raise awareness about this awful disease and to meet other people who are
affected. Bone cancer is quite rare and it is easy for young people with the
illness to feel extremely isolated.”

The Awareness Week is supported by, the Teenage Cancer Trust, Sarcoma UK,
Cancer 52 and the Rarer Cancers Forum.

Reference

(1): Incidence and survival of childhood bone cancer in northern England
and the West Midlands, 1981-2002. Eyre et al. British Journal of Cancer.
Volume 100, Issue 1. January, 2009

About bone cancer

The two commonest forms of bone cancer are osteosarcoma and Ewing’s
sarcoma. Both of these cancers most commonly occur between the ages of 10 and
25. Because these cancers can spread to other parts of the body, even when
the tumour is detected at a very small size, treatment includes chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy is intended to destroy the tumour cells which have spread to the
rest of the body and to shrink the main mass of tumour cells. Successful
treatment also requires another form of treatment to the main mass of tumour.
For osteosarcoma this is usually surgery to remove the main tumour and may
involve replacing the affected bone with a metal alternative or amputation.
Ewing’s sarcoma is similarly often treated with surgery, but treatment also
includes radiotherapy which is intended to kill any residual cells. Around
400 patients are diagnosed each year in the UK with primary bone cancers.

Source
Bone Cancer Research Trust