1. Neoantigen DNA vaccines are safe, feasible, and induce neoantigen-specific immune responses in triple-negative breast cancer patients.
- Author
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Zhang X, Goedegebuure SP, Chen MY, Mishra R, Zhang F, Yu YY, Singhal K, Li L, Gao F, Myers NB, Vickery T, Hundal J, McLellan MD, Sturmoski MA, Kim SW, Chen I, Davidson JT 4th, Sankpal NV, Myles S, Suresh R, Ma CX, Foluso A, Wang-Gillam A, Davies S, Hagemann IS, Mardis ER, Griffith O, Griffith M, Miller CA, Hansen TH, Fleming TP, Schreiber RD, and Gillanders WE
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Middle Aged, Adult, Aged, Vaccines, DNA immunology, Antigens, Neoplasm immunology, Antigens, Neoplasm genetics, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms immunology, Cancer Vaccines immunology, Cancer Vaccines therapeutic use, Cancer Vaccines adverse effects
- Abstract
Background: Neoantigen vaccines can induce or enhance highly specific antitumor immune responses with minimal risk of autoimmunity. We have developed a neoantigen DNA vaccine platform capable of efficiently presenting both HLA class I and II epitopes and performed a phase 1 clinical trial in triple-negative breast cancer patients with persistent disease on surgical pathology following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, a patient population at high risk of disease recurrence., Methods: Expressed somatic mutations were identified by tumor/normal exome sequencing and tumor RNA sequencing. The pVACtools software suite of neoantigen prediction algorithms was used to identify and prioritize cancer neoantigens and facilitate vaccine design for manufacture in an academic GMP facility. Neoantigen DNA vaccines were administered via electroporation in the adjuvant setting (i.e., following surgical removal of the primary tumor and completion of standard of care therapy). Vaccines were monitored for safety and immune responses via ELISpot, intracellular cytokine production via flow cytometry, and TCR sequencing., Results: Eighteen subjects received three doses of a neoantigen DNA vaccine encoding on average 11 neoantigens per patient (range 4-20). The vaccinations were well tolerated with relatively few adverse events. Neoantigen-specific T cell responses were induced in 14/18 patients as measured by ELISpot and flow cytometry. At a median follow-up of 36 months, recurrence-free survival was 87.5% (95% CI: 72.7-100%) in the cohort of vaccinated patients., Conclusion: Our study demonstrates neoantigen DNA vaccines are safe, feasible, and capable of inducing neoantigen-specific immune responses., Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT02348320., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The clinical protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (ID# 201505074) at Washington University School of Medicine. The research conformed to the principles of the Helsinki/Tokyo/Venice Declaration on experimentation in humans. Consent for publication Written consent for publication was obtained from all participating patients. Competing interests K.S., M.G., and O.G. are consultants for the Jaime Leandro Foundation. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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