ImmunoCellular Therapeutics,(ICT) Ltd has announced that the company acquired the exclusive license from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for their novel peptides which the Company believes can stimulate the immune system to target cancer stem cells. Thus it can be used for gliomas, a cancer originating in the brain or spine. These peptides were specifically designed to elicit a T cell response targeting CD133 positive cancer stem cells that have been identified in a number of cancer types, including gliomas, colon cancer and pancreatic cancer.

The ICT-111 is IMUC’s (ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd) cancer stem cell vaccine which consists of dendritic cells, immune system cells responsible for presenting antigens to the immune system–which are obtained from the patient’s blood and programmed with a specific cancer stem cell protein which in turn provides a target for the immune system. The immune system should then be armed to potentially seek and destroy the remaining cancer stem cells. ICT-111 may have applicability to multiple types of cancer, but IMUC will initially evaluate it in a Phase I clinical study for glioblastoma which, subject to FDA clearance, IMUC plans to commence later this year.

Manish Singh, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of IMUC said:

This technology allows us to leap frog to development of the next generation of cancer stem cell vaccines which could be used in an off-the-shelf manner targeting multiple cancers. It is potentially a revolutionary finding, and we are looking forward to bringing this into the clinic at the earliest possible date.

Source: marketwatch