GVAX is a

cancer vaccine A cancer vaccine, or oncovaccine, is a vaccine that either treats existing cancer or prevents development of cancer. Vaccines that treat existing cancer are known as ''therapeutic'' cancer vaccines or tumor antigen vaccines. Some of the vaccines ...

composed of whole tumor cells genetically modified to secrete the immune stimulatory

cytokine Cytokines () are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–25 kDa) important in cell signaling. Cytokines are produced by a broad range of cells, including immune cells like macrophages, B cell, B lymphocytes, T cell, T lymphocytes ...

, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and then irradiated to prevent further cell division. The product exists as both

autologous Autotransplantation is the transplantation of organs, tissues, or even particular proteins from one part of the body to another in the same person ('' auto-'' meaning "self" in Greek). The autologous tissue (also called autogenous, autogenei ...

(patient specific) and

allogeneic Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Greek) is the transplantation of cells, tissues, or organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of the same species. The transplant is called an allograft, allogeneic transplant, ...

(non-patient specific) therapy. __TOC__

History

GVAX was developed around 1993 by Glenn Dranoff, a cancer researcher then at the

Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indep ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The therapy was initially developed by a public gene therapy company called Somatix, which was acquired in 1997 by

Cell Genesys Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a ...

. That company took the vaccine into Phase III trials in 2004 however these trials were halted in 2008 due to an apparent lack of efficacy. Cell Genesys continued development, however in August 2009, due to funding difficulties, the company announced that it was merging with BioSante Pharmaceuticals. In 2013 BioSante sold the GVAx program to Aduro Biotech, a company based in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. In 2020 Aduro Biotech merged with Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. to form Chinook Therapeutics.

Current development

Aduro Biotech is currently in Phase II with GVAX in

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

, where the company is also trialing a combination of GVAX with a

PD-1 Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), (CD279 cluster of differentiation 279). PD-1 is a protein encoded in humans by the ''PDCD1'' gene. PD-1 is a cell surface receptor on T cells and B cells that has a role in regulating the immune system's re ...

inhibitor.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Experimental cancer drugs