ImmunoCellular Therapeutics (NYSE MKT: IMUC) announced today that
clinical data from its Phase I trial of ICT-107 was accepted for
publication, and is currently in the online edition of the prestigious
medical journal Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy (http://www.springerlink.com/content/n0018574g9m4v587/fulltext.pdf).
In the publication, the data showed that the expression of four ICT-107
targeted antigens in the pre-vaccine tumors correlated with longer
overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) in newly
diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients. Median PFS in newly
diagnosed GBM patients was 16.9 months and median OS was 38.4 months.
Tumors from post-vaccine resections in five patients showed a decrease
in or loss of the cancer stem cell associated antigen CD133 relative to
their pre-vaccine counterparts, which may be promising because previous
studies have consistently shown increased expression of CD133 in
recurrent tumors. The idea of cancer stem cell therapeutics has received
increasing attention, including through publications noting IMUC's
progress in the clinic with its ICT-107 vaccine targeting antigens
associated with cancer stem cells and articles in the recent issues of Nature and
Science noting the significance of cancer stem cells to tumor
growth.