CimaVax-EGF

CimaVax is an active vaccine with which patients are immunized with epidermal growth factor (EGF), thus raising antibodies targeting EGF itself. The EGF is chemically linked to the Neisseria meningitidis outer protein P64k for immunogenicity; The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is hijacked by many types of cancer, including cancers of the lung, colon, kidney, and head and neck. By raising antibodies against EGF, which is EGFR's major ligand, the concentrations of EGF in the blood are reduced. Thus CimaVax does not target the cancer cells directly, but is expected to work against these cancers by denying the cancers the growth stimulus they require. For this reason, the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center group thinks that it may prove most useful as a preventive vaccine rather than as a cancer therapy per se. ==Research==

Cuba Early trials showed a trend towards improved survival among vaccinated test subjects. A direct correlation between the level of antibodies that a vaccinated patient raises against EGF and survival has been observed in several trials, International The United States embargo against Cuba forbids US citizens from seeking medical treatment in Cuba. However, some cancer patients from the US have defied the embargo and travelled to Cuba for treatment with CimaVax. Trials are being organized in the United States, the European Union, Japan, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center to conduct a PhaseI/II clinical trial of CimaVAX in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. By the middle of the following month, nearly 200 people had volunteered to be subjects in the trial. In September 2018, Principal Investigator Grace Dy shared the initial results of the first Roswell Park trial. They found that the combination of CIMAvax with the PD-1 inhibitor checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab was safe and well tolerated in 13 people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when administered at the doses normally recommended for each agent individually. The results were in line with the September 2018 report, with the additional finding that patients receiving combination therapy in this trial were more likely to develop robust early antibody responses to CIMAvax as compared with what had been observed in earlier studies with CIMAvax alone. == See also ==