Informed by decades of research, Imvax’s platform elegantly turns the complexity of a solid tumor against itself by capturing its complete antigenic signature and converting it into a highly immunostimulatory ‘training program’. This is designed to deliver both innate and adaptive immune stimulation to overcome the challenges of solid tumors’ variability and ability to suppress the immune system.
Imvax’s platform is a multi-step process designed to deliver personalized, whole tumor-derived immunotherapies. It relies on multiple validated technologies and can be incorporated into the standard of care for cancer. Click into the major two steps unique to Imvax’s platform to find out more.
After surgical removal, patient tumor samples undergo overnight tissue processing including treatment with an antisense therapy. The cells & antisense are incubated in small proprietary chambers, which are irradiated. This entire process stresses the cells toward an immunogenic cell death which causes the release of the tumor’s entire antigenic signature along with immunostimulatory factors.
The small chambers loaded with antigen signature and antisense therapy represent a combination product tailored specifically to the patient. They are temporarily implanted in the abdomen, providing a controlled interface with the immune system via micropores.
The intended result of implanting the chamber is that the immune system absorb the tumor’s full antigenic signature, triggering innate immunity and the induction of a long-term adaptive immune response against remaining tumor tissue in the body.
This immune stimulation is augmented by the antisense therapy, IMV-001. This single-stranded nucleic acid is designed to act in multiple ways to enhance sensitization of the immune system to a tumor’s full, unique antigen signature.
Firstly, IMV-001 targets the IGF1R receptor, a cell growth controller common in tumors, but not most healthy cells.
IMV-001 binds to IGF1R in tumor cells to promote a specific kind of immunogenic tumor cell death which releases the tumor’s entire antigenic signature along with immunostimulatory factors.
Finally, IMV-001’s sequence includes a short element called a CpG motif. As IMV-001 diffuses out of the chamber, this motif activates nearby antigen-presenting cells, now laden with tumor antigens. These cells consequently traffic to local lymph nodes to activate the adaptive immune system.
Imvax’s platform bypasses the defenses of solid tumors and fully exposes their antigenic signature to an enhanced immune system, providing an opportunity for a broader anti-tumor effect without the selection pressure created by single antigen-targeting therapies.
Imvax’s platform delivers immunotherapy that is autologous – personalized to a patient’s entire unique tumor – and incorporates multiple mechanisms that stimulate both the innate and adaptive immune system. This broad spectrum effect could potentially also enhance the effects of other immunotherapies used in combination.
Imvax’s platform trains the immune system to comprehensively address a tumor’s entire antigenic signature. Because the immune system ignores ‘self’ antigens, Imvax’s platform inherently does not encourage off-tumor immune attack.
Imvax’s platform uses overnight tumor tissue processing to prepare its proprietary chambers for implantation. By contrast, many emerging therapies targeting one or a small number of antigens are difficult and lengthy to manufacture and require further layers of complex processing like gene editing.
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Zilberberg, J., et al. “Autologous glioblastoma tumor cells and an antisense oligonucleotide against insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor protect against tumor challenge and generate T cell anti-tumor responses.” Presented at SITC 2021.
Zilberberg, J., et al. “Autologous glioblastoma tumor cells treated with an antisense oligonucleotide against insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor protect mice against GL261 tumor challenge.” Presented at AACR 2021.
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