The logic of using the immune system to destroy the tumor tissue has been validated by existing clinical data.  Its therapeutic success however, has been severely limited by the technologies that were available prior to InCytu.

 

The Immune Process

In a healthy immune system, circulating dendritic cells (DCs) identify foreign “invaders” and carry a sample of the foreign protein (antigen) back to the immune system and lymph nodes. In the lymph nodes an immune response focused specifically on cells expressing that particular antigen is generated  to destroy the invaders. 

This process is typically insufficient in cancer patients who develop tumors.  Whether  it is insufficient numbers of DCs or the DCs do not recognize cancerous tissue as foreign, the tumor cells take hold and proliferate.

 

Current Therapies

A number of therapies called immunotherapies attempt to use the immune system as a tool to slow tumor progression.  One of the most successful of these approaches enhances the DC populations by removing the cells from the patient and growing them in flask placed in an incubator.  These ex-vivo processes proliferate patient-specific DCs and expose them to tumor antigen outside the body before re-injecting them. Despite challenges associated with the handling of the cells outside the body and the cell death that occurs when reintroducing the DCs to the patient, these cells appear to travel to the lymph nodes and bolster the immune system. 

In vivo characterization of the immune response to melanoma tumors has shown dramatic improvements. Using Professor Mooney’s technology, InCytu has engineered a system to overcome the limitations of existing approaches.

 

The Benefits of the Cellarium i-BD Vaccine

InCytu takes this obviously functional approach and makes it simpler and much more effective.

The Cellarium vaccine methodology utilizes a porous PLG sponge material system (the same material used in resorbable sutures) and  (A) releases a factor that effectively recruits host DCs to migrate towards and into the porous sponge device, where (B) the DCs are exposed to autologous tumor lysate and a naturally occuring adjuvant that activates the DCs, and then (C) enables the exit and homing of activated DCs to lymph nodes to elicit an anti-tumor response.

 

Cellarium vs. Current Tissue Regeneration