MINIGENE: Antigen specific minigene vaccine technology to prevent the occurrence of metastatic cancer

根据英国癌症研究中心的数据，食道癌是英国第五大癌症死亡原因，被列为临床需求未得到满足的四种肿瘤之一。特别是，癌症转移，或癌症扩散到其他关键身体部位，如肝脏，显著降低了患者的存活率。**_因此，早期发现和干预对于预防和/或显著推迟转移的发生至关重要。_**遗憾的是，英国没有报告5年期4期生存率统计数据。食道癌转移有很高的死亡率。在美国，生存率不到4.6%(SEER，2019年)。大约50%的食道癌诊断符合手术条件，但手术是高度侵入性的，风险很大，并影响患者的生活质量。最重要的是，手术并不能防止肿瘤转移。其他50%的患者目前正在接受化疗，这是_**侵略性的**__会导致几个副作用，包括削弱免疫系统。其他技术(即检查点抑制剂、CAR-T疗法和其他类似的细胞疗法)在疗效、交付，特别是成本方面都有自己的_**局限性。**_能够产生针对肿瘤特异性抗原的高强度免疫反应的癌症疫苗代表着很有前途的新癌症疗法。然而，由于糟糕的治疗方案、次优的疫苗输送平台和糟糕的肿瘤抗原选择，现有的方法未能成功。_**牛津大学的生物技术分支公司Infinitope已经开发出一种高度新颖的、获得专利的抗转移疫苗，可以与标准化疗相结合来预防*转移。_**临床前研究表明，我们的疫苗可以在多种肿瘤模型中提供前所未有的长期保护和绝对抑制转移。在Innovate UK的支持下，Infinitope将能够在我们的旅程中迈出下一步。这是为了完成首个针对食道癌患者的人类临床试验。作为牛津大学的生物技术分支，**_Infinitope是世界领先的癌症医生、免疫学家和疫苗专家_**的独特合作，他们拥有成功交付该项目的专业知识和能力。如果成功，Infinitope的技术将拥有巨大的潜力，可以改变全球数百万患者的生活，创造更多的就业机会，并加强英国的生物医药产业基础。

Oesophageal cancer is the 5th cause of cancer death in the UK and prioritised as one of the four tumour types with the highest unmet clinical need according to Cancer Research UK. In particular, cancer metastases, or the spread of cancer to other critical body parts such as the liver, significantly reduces survival rates of patients. **_Therefore, early detection and intervention is crucial to prevent and/or significantly delay the onset of metastases._** Sadly, the UK does not report 5-year Stage 4 survival statistics. There is a very high mortality associated with oesophageal cancer metastases. In the US, survival rate is less than 4.6% (SEER, 2019).Approximately 50% of oesophageal cancer diagnoses are eligible for surgery, but surgery is highly invasive, risky and affects patients' quality of life. Crucially, surgery does not prevent metastases. The other 50% of patients currently receive chemotherapy, which is _**aggressive,**_ causing several side-effects, including weakening the immune system. Other technologies (i.e. checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T therapy and other similar cell therapies) have their own _**limitations in terms of efficacy, delivery and especially cost.**_Cancer vaccines that can generate high-magnitude immune responses directed to tumour-specific antigens represent promising novel cancer therapies. **_However, existing approaches have failed to succeed_** due to poor treatment regimens, suboptimal vaccine delivery platforms and poor selection of tumour antigens._**Infinitopes, a biotech spinout from Oxford University, has developed a highly novel, patented anti-metastatic vaccine that can be combined with standard chemotherapy to prevent**_ **_metastases._** Preclinical studies have demonstrated our vaccine can confer unprecedented long-term protection and absolutely suppression of metastases in multiple tumour models.With Innovate UK support, Infinitopes will be able to take the next step in our journey, which is to complete the First-In-Human clinical trial in oesophageal cancer patients. As a biotech spinout from the University of Oxford, **_Infinitopes is a unique collaboration of world-leading cancer doctors, immunologists & vaccine experts_** who possess the expertise and capability to successfully deliver this project. If successful, Infinitopes' technology enjoys enormous potential to transform the lives of millions of patients globally, create further employment opportunities and strengthen the UK biomedical industrial base.