Improving Mesothelioma Therapy by Boosting Immune Responses to Mutations by Vaccination and by Immunogenic Chemotherapy
Abstract
Fiscal Year 2019 Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Topic Area: Mesothelioma; and Immunotherapy Military Relevance Focus Areas: Militarily relevant risk factors – asbestos; and Gaps in cancer treatment, and/or survivorship. Scientific Objective and Rationale: Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that most commonly grows in the tissue sacs that surround the lung. It can invade surrounding organs, often causing pain, breathlessness, and weight loss in the process. It has proven to be quite resistant to the commonly used forms of cancer therapy such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, and as a result the average survival time for patients is only about one year from diagnosis. Immunotherapy is a new form of treatment that relies on getting the immune system to attack cancer cells in much the same way that it attacks virus infected cells. There is some exciting new evidence that immunotherapy might be a useful form of therapy for mesothelioma, but success is limited and new approaches need to be developed. This grant aims to develop new immunotherapies for mesothelioma. The two main concepts underlying this grant are that: • some of the mutations in the cancer cell’s genetic code (i.e., their asbestos-induced “mutations”) will be good targets for immune attack and these mutations can be identified using the advanced technologies that are now available to us. • this information can then be turned into vaccines that will be able to FORCE the immune system to mount an attack on these mesothelioma cancer cells leading to improved survival. Such an approach represents an attractive proposition because these vaccines would focus the immune attack on the cancer mutations with “laser like precision,” leaving the normal cells untouched, making it safer. This thus represents a novel form of cancer therapy. We can achieve these goals because we have an award-winning collaborative team of scientists and clinicians from Australia, the United States, and Canada who have pioneered much of this work with extensive experience in both mesothelioma and in immunology. Near-Term and Long-Term Impact: This project could, within 3 years, generate novel ways of tracking specific anti-cancer immunity, a kind of “real-time” tracking system to enable doctors to make better decisions on starting or changing cancer therapies. In the longer term, it will form the basis for clinical trials of mutation-based cancer vaccines. Patient Applicability: This project will be applicable to most patients with mesothelioma. Patients will have a sample of their tumor and blood taken, and a vaccine will be generated and sent back to their clinic a few months later for simple outpatient administration via injection into the skin. Such an approach could also prove to be useful in other cancers. Potential Clinical Applications, Benefits and Risks: Relevance for mesothelioma: Over 15,000 mesothelioma sufferers die each year around the world, and this project could generate new/improved treatments that are game-changing for these patients. Relevance for other cancers: Because all cancers are caused by mutations, this project could impact millions of non-mesothelioma cancer patients via new personalized tumor-specific therapeutic vaccines which could be better, safer, cheaper, and more user-friendly than other current immunotherapies Projected time it may take to achieve a patient-related outcome: 3 years. Relevance to Military Personnel: Over 25 million people have served with the US military, and many of them have been exposed to asbestos. There are estimated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 US cases of mesothelioma per year, and there are some claims that up to a third of these cases occur in Veterans. This project thus has direct and widespread relevance to them.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 10, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2010537
Entities
People
- Bruce H. Robinson
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Western Australia