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

食管癌是英国癌症死亡的第五大原因，根据英国癌症研究，食管癌是四种临床需求最高的肿瘤类型之一。特别是，癌症转移，或癌症扩散到其他重要身体部位，如肝脏，显着降低患者的生存率。**_因此，早期发现和干预对于预防和/或显著延迟转移的发生至关重要。遗憾的是，英国没有报告5年4期生存统计数据。有一个非常高的死亡率与食管癌转移。在美国，生存率低于4.6%（SEER，2019）。大约50%的食管癌诊断符合手术条件，但手术具有高度侵入性和风险，并影响患者的生活质量。最重要的是，手术不能防止转移。其他50%的患者目前接受化疗，这是_** 侵略性的，**_引起几个副作用，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，特别是成本方面有其自身的局限性。能够产生针对肿瘤特异性抗原的高强度免疫应答的癌症疫苗代表了有前途的新型癌症疗法。**_然而，由于治疗方案不佳、疫苗输送平台不佳和肿瘤抗原选择不佳，现有方法未能取得成功。Infinitopes是牛津大学的一家生物技术公司，它开发了一种非常新颖的专利抗转移疫苗，可以与标准化疗结合使用，以防止 * 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，Infinitopes将能够在我们的旅程中迈出下一步，即完成在食管癌患者中的首次人体临床试验。作为牛津大学的一个生物技术衍生公司，**_Infinitopes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，Infinitopes的技术将具有巨大的潜力，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学产业基础。

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.