Six scientific presentations at the Progress in Vaccination against Cancer Conference highlight potential of ImmunoBody® and Moditope® platform technologies

Scancell Holdings plc (‘Scancell’ or the ‘Company’), the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announces that six scientific presentations on the Company’s ImmunoBody® and Moditope® immunotherapy platforms will be delivered at the 15th International Conference on Progress in Vaccination against Cancer (PIVAC-15), 6-8 October 2015. The presentations exemplify the growing body of data that are emerging from these platform technologies that suggest that they could be potentially important approaches to delivering effective and complementary immunotherapies to treat a range of cancers.

The six presentations are as follows:

• “Citrullinated vimentin, which is presented on MHC-II on tumour cells, is a novel rejection target for CD4 T cells”1 (Moditope®)
•  “A clinical trial of a DNA vaccine (SCIB1) that targets dendritic cells in vivo in fully resected melanoma patients; a vaccine to prevent disease recurrence?”2 (SCIB1 ImmunoBody®)
•  “SCIB1 DNA vaccination synergises with PD-1 blockade to induce efficient tumour therapy of poorly immunogenic tumours”3 (SCIB1 ImmunoBody®)
•  “SCIB2 targets NY-ESO-1 epitopes to induce potent anti-tumour immunity which is enhanced by Treg depletion or checkpoint blockade”4 (SCIB2 ImmunoBody®)
•  “Adjuvant choice modulates self antigen specific CD4 responses generated by peptide vaccination”5 (Moditope®)
•  “Anti-tumour immune responses to citrullinated enolase”6 (Moditope®)

Prof Lindy Durrant, Joint CEO of Scancell and Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy at Nottingham University, commented: “Scancell’s presentations at this important conference exemplify the growing body of exciting data emerging from both our SCIB1 clinical trial and our ImmunoBody®, and Moditope®, immunotherapy technology platforms, and provide a solid foundation for building a broad immuno-oncology franchise in the future.”

All abstracts and posters will be made available for download at www.scancell.co.uk.

For Further Information: 

1 Citrullinated vimentin, which is presented on MHC-II on tumour cells, is a novel rejection target for CD4 T cells.
V Brentville, R Metheringham, B Gunn, P Symonds, I Daniels, M Gijon, W Xue and L.G. Durrant.
2 A clinical trial of a DNA vaccine (SCIB1) that targets dendritic cells in vivo in fully resected melanoma patients; a vaccine to prevent disease recurrence?
L.G. Durrant, C Ottensmeier, C Mulatero, P Lorigan, R Plummer, R Metheringham, V Brentville, L Machado, I Daniels, D Hannaman & P.M.Patel.
3 SCIB1 DNA vaccination synergises with PD-1 blockade to induce efficient tumour therapy of poorly immunogenic tumours.
W Xue, V Brentville, R Metheringham, K Cook, P Symonds, I Daniel and L.G. Durrant.
4 SCIB2 targets NY-ESO-1 epitopes to induce potent anti-tumour immunity which is enhanced by Treg depletion or checkpoint blockade.
W Xue, R Metheringham, V Brentville, K Cook, P Symonds, I Daniel and L.G. Durrant.
5 Adjuvant choice modulates self antigen specific CD4 responses generated by peptide vaccination.
V Brentville, W Xue, P Symonds, K Cook, B Gunn, R Metheringham and L.G. Durrant.
6 Anti-tumour immune responses to citrullinated enolase.
K Cook, I Daniels, V Brentville, R Metheringham, W Xue, P Symonds, T Pitt, M Gijon and L.G. Durrant

Notes to Editors

About Scancell
Scancell is developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer based on its ImmunoBody® and Moditope® technology platforms.

Scancell’s first ImmunoBody®, SCIB1 is being developed for the treatment of melanoma and is being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial. Data from the trial demonstrate that SCIB1, when used as monotherapy, has a marked effect on tumour load, produces a melanoma-specific immune response and highly encouraging survival trend without serious side effects. In patients with resected disease there is increasing evidence to suggest that SCIB1 may delay or prevent disease recurrence.

Scancell’s ImmunoBody® vaccines target dendritic cells and stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system: the helper cell system where inflammation is stimulated at the tumour site and the cytotoxic Tlymphocyte or CTL response where immune system cells are primed to recognise and kill specific cells.

Pre-clinical data on a combination of SCIB1 or SCIB2 and checkpoint inhibition (blockade of the PD-1 or CTLA-4 immune checkpoint pathways) have shown enhanced tumour destruction and significantly longer survival times than when either treatment was used alone.

Scancell has also identified and patented a series of modified epitopes that stimulate the production of killer CD4+ T cells that destroy tumours without toxicity. The Directors believe that the Moditope® platform could play a major role in the development of safe and effective cancer immunotherapies in the future.