In the study, performed by Dr Yvonne Paterson, scientific founder of Advaxis, Listeria vaccine treatment was found to be significantly more effective than comparable DNA vaccines, even though the DNA vaccines were given before the implementation of tumors and the Listeria vaccines were given after tumors were palpable.
The profound immunologic response to a series of five Listeria vaccines that were constructed to assess the efficacy of novel fragments of the HER-2/neu antigen revealed the ability of novel immune recognition sites used in these agents to arrest tumor progression in all cases and achieve regression that included complete regression in many cases.
“We found that we can stop the tumor from growing out to 100 days, at which time we stopped measuring since this is a long time for experiments of this type,” said Dr Paterson. “The tumors stopped growing or went completely away.”
Dr Paterson’s work is the basis for Advaxis’ technology. These new findings provide substantial support for Lovaxin B, Advaxis’ Listeria cancer vaccine for the treatment of breast cancer and other tumors which express the HER-2 antigen. Advaxis’ first Listeria cancer vaccine, Lovaxin-C for cervical cancer, is scheduled to begin a phase I/II clinical trial within two months. Advaxis plans to initiate a Phase I/II clinical trial in Lovaxin B in year 2006.