Combining Cancer Vaccines with Checkpoint Inhibitors May Broaden Tumor Eradication, Say Mayo Clinic’s Dr Knutson and CellxLife’s Dr von Hofe

In the final segment of an interview with BioPharm International®, Mayo Clinic’s Keith L. Knutson, PhD, professor of Immunology, and CellxLife CEO Eric von Hofe, PhD, discuss how cancer vaccines overcome tumor immune suppression and complement existing checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

Dr Knutson notes how decades of research have shown that tumors deploy multiple immune-suppressive mechanisms, but vaccines can now be tuned to generate immune responses resistant to that suppression. He explains that the dendritic cell vaccine used in CellxLife’s ovarian cancer program is designed specifically to overcome an immune suppression mechanism present in most ovarian cancer patients.

Why might cancer vaccines reach the majority of patients checkpoint inhibitors do not help?

Dr von Hofe explains that after primary tumor removal, individual cancer cells can remain dormant in lymph nodes, the same location in which immune cells reside. Primed T cells can identify and eliminate these dormant cells before they regrow into tumors. He points to checkpoint inhibitors, which have driven strong responses in roughly 30% to 40% of cancer patients over the past decade by removing immune system inhibition. However, in the remaining 60% to 70% of patients, the underlying problem is an absence of activated immune cells to begin with.

"In those 60 to 70% where they are not effective, the issue there is that cancer vaccines can be effective in generating a new immune response to attack the cancer," Dr von Hofe says.

"Vaccines themselves aren't necessarily going to take care of the entire problem,” Dr Knutson adds. “We're going to have to have multimodalities to eradicate a tumor."

Dr Knutson also emphasizes that his career-long research has consistently shown that adaptive immune response is critical to eliminating tumors and preventing recurrence and that vaccines now offer a way to manipulate that response deliberately.

Gain further insight into Dr von Hofe and Dr Knutson’s ongoing work in cancer vaccine development here: segment 1, segment 2, and segment 3.

About the speakers

Keith L. Knutson, PhD, Professor of Immunology, Mayo Clinic

Dr Knutson is a consultant in the Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic in Florida, with a joint appointment in the Department of Cancer Biology.He serves as the director of the Mayo Clinic in Florida Cell Analysis and Cell Imaging Core.He is also co-director of the Mayo Clinic Enterprise Cancer Center’s Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program and vice chair of the Mayo Clinic Enterprise Research Personnel Committee. Dr. Knutson joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 2005 andholds the academic rank of Professor of Immunology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He is recognized with the distinction of the Andrew A. and Mary S. Sugg Professor of Cancer Research. He received his Bachelor of Science in Microbiology at the University of Washington and earned his PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of Georgia.

Eric von Hofe, PhD, CEO, CellxLife

Dr Hofe has more than 30 years of experience in managing and overseeing novel biotechnology approaches to cancer immunotherapy and technology development. Prior to becoming CEO of CellxLIfe, he led development efforts at AffyImmune Therapeutics raising over $20 million and advancing a novel CAR T cell therapeutic into the clinic against refractory thyroid cancer. Previously he led the development of an immunotherapeutic vaccine for breast and prostate cancer at Antigen Express, resulting in a collaboration with Merck. Prior to that he held positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals overseeing the advancement of internal technology development projects and personalized medicine.