Advaxis Incorporated (OTCBB:ADXS), a developmental biotechnology company, and a team of investigators from the University of Pennsylvania and the Hilman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh recently published a research paper in the October 2008 edition of Cancer Research demonstrating the tumor eliminating properties of a live Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) vaccine in a variety of different of cancer types in a mouse model.
The research was initiated in the laboratory of Advaxis' Scientific Founder Dr. Yvonne Patterson's at the University of Pennsylvania and continued at Advaxis. This work was led by Paulo Maciag, M.D., Ph.D. the first author of the paper, and a Senior Scientist at Advaxis.
In the Paper, Dr. Maciag and the team investigated an Lm based vaccine that delivers a proprietary fusion protein comprised of a non-hemolytic fragment of listeriolysin O (LLO:LLO) fused to the C fragment of the antigen High Molecular Weight Melanoma Associated Antigen (HMW-MAA). This protein displayed the ability to reduce and eliminate a various tumor types including melanoma, renal carcinoma, and breast cancer. As published in other research papers with similar Advaxis' live Listeria vaccines, animals after treatment that eliminated these different tumor types and were subsequently reinoculated with new tumor cells did not regrow new tumors.
This research again demonstrates the efficacy in the mouse model of using live Listeria vaccines that deliver LLO-antigen fusion protein to eliminate existing tumors and prevent reoccurrence, and now extends our pre-clinical pipeline beyond surface tumor antigens to include anti-angiogenesis mechanisms of action, said Advaxis' Chairman and CEO Tom Moore. We are privileged to have the opportunity to continue to commercialize Dr. Paterson's landmark use of live Listeria vaccines, and to extend Dr. Maciag's brilliant work in exciting new directions.
The Paper has been published in the October 2008 edition of Cancer Research. For further information on the Paper or Lm based therapies, please visit http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org or www.advaxis.com.
About Lovaxin C Vaccine
Advaxis' Listeria technology platform uses modified Listeria monocytogenes to deliver a tumor-specific antigen fusion protein. Bioengineered Listeria that are attenuated and secrete Advaxis' proprietary fusion proteins have the ability to generate a robust immune response, break immune tolerance to cancer and produce an unusually strong and effective multi-level therapeutic immune response to existing cancer and other diseases.
Advaxis'Listeria-based technology is based on over a decade's worth of work by Dr. Yvonne Paterson in her laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. The Company's proprietary antigen fusion protein technology, stimulates innate immunity, both arms of the adaptive cellular immune system, suppresses regulatory T cells that inhibit many vaccines in the function of activated tumor-killing cells and has other anti-tumor effects.
Advaxis' lead Listeria therapeutic vaccine candidate, Lovaxin C, targets human papilloma virus (HPV:HPV)-associated cancers such as cervical and head and neck. Other Lm vaccines currently in pre-clinical development target prostate, breast, ovarian and other cancers. Recently, Advaxis completed a Phase I clinical trial of Lovaxin C in cervical cancer. A Phase II clinical trial is planned for patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN:CIN). The Company intends to start this study in CIN 2/3 grade patients in the fall of 2008.
Unlike prophylactic vaccines, Lovaxin C was designed to treat women who have already developed, CIN or cervical cancer as a result of contracting a human papilloma virus (HPV:HPV) infection, which is the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease in the US. Current therapeutic products on the market are ineffective in treating HPV-infected women.
For further information on Lovaxin C, please visit: http://www.advaxis.com/lc.htm
About Advaxis, Inc.
Based in North Brunswick, New Jersey, Advaxis is developing proprietary Listeriamonocytogenes ( Lm ) cancer vaccines based on technology developed by Dr. Yvonne Paterson, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania and Chairperson of Advaxis' Scientific Advisory Board. Advaxis is developing therapeutic cancer vaccines that enhance the immune system's cancer fighting abilities through its proprietary Lm based system, which utilizes multiple simultaneous immunological mechanisms and which has been safely administered to patients with cancer.
Aside from Lovaxin C, Advaxis has agents in pre-clinical development for prostate, breast, and other cancer types.
For further information on the Company, please visit: http://www.advaxis.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
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