Safety and efficacy of autologous cell vaccines in solid tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials

Optimizing rWTC-MBTA Vaccine Formulations, Dosing Regimens, and Cryopreservation Techniques to Enhance Anti-Metastatic Immunotherapy

Metastatic cancer poses significant clinical challenges, necessitating effective immunotherapies with minimal systemic toxicity. Building on prior research demonstrating the rWTC-MBTA vaccine's ability to inhibit tumor metastasis and growth, this study focuses on its clinical translation by optimizing vaccine composition, dosing regimens, and freezing techniques. The vaccine formula components included three TLR ligands (LTA, Poly I:C, and Resiquimod) and an anti-CD40 antibody, which were tested in melanoma and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) models. The formulations were categorized as rWTC-MBT (Mannan-BAM with LTA, Poly I:C, Resiquimod), rWTC-MBL (LTA), rWTC-MBP (Mannan-BAM with Poly I:C), and rWTC-MBR (Resiquimod). In the melanoma models, all the formulations exhibited efficacy that was comparable to that of the full vaccine, while in the "colder" TNBC models, the formulations with multiple TLR ligands or Resiquimod alone performed the best. Vaccine-induced activation of dendritic cell (DC) subsets, including conventional DCs (cDCs), myeloid DCs (mDCs), and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), was accompanied by significant CD80+CD86+ population induction, suggesting robust innate immune stimulation. An initial three-dose schedule followed by booster doses (3-1-1-1 or 3-3-3-3) reduced the metastatic burden effectively. Gradual freezing (DMSO-based preservation) maintained vaccine efficacy, underscoring the importance of intact cell structure. These findings highlight the potential of simplified formulations, optimized dosing, and freezing techniques in developing practical, scalable immunotherapies for metastatic cancers.

Engineering Challenges and Opportunities in Autologous Cellular Cancer Immunotherapy

The use of a patient's own immune or tumor cells, manipulated ex vivo, enables Ag- or patient-specific immunotherapy. Despite some clinical successes, there remain significant barriers to efficacy, broad patient population applicability, and safety. Immunotherapies that target specific tumor Ags, such as chimeric Ag receptor T cells and some dendritic cell vaccines, can mount robust immune responses against immunodominant Ags, but evolving tumor heterogeneity and antigenic downregulation can drive resistance. In contrast, whole tumor cell vaccines and tumor lysate-loaded dendritic cell vaccines target the patient's unique tumor antigenic repertoire without prior neoantigen selection; however, efficacy can be weak when lower-affinity clones dominate the T cell pool. Chimeric Ag receptor T cell and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapies additionally face challenges related to genetic modification, T cell exhaustion, and immunotoxicity. In this review, we highlight some engineering approaches and opportunities to these challenges among four classes of autologous cell therapies.

Targeted immunotherapy for glioblastoma involving whole tumor-derived autologous cells in the upfront setting after craniotomy

PURPOSE

To date, immunotherapeutic approaches in glioblastoma (GBM) have had limited clinical efficacy as compared to other solid tumors. Here we explore autologous cell treatments that have the potential to circumvent treatment resistance to immunotherapy for GBM.

METHODS

We performed literature review and assessed clinical outcomes in phase 1 safety trials as well as phase 2 and 3 autologously-derived vaccines for the treatment of newly-diagnosed GBM. In one recent review of over 3,000 neuro-oncology phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials, most trials were nonblinded (92%), single group (65%), nonrandomized (51%) and almost half were GBM trials. Only 10% involved a biologic and only 2.2% involved a double-blind randomized trial design.

RESULTS

With this comparative literature review we conclude that our autologous cell product is uniquely antigen-inclusive and antigen-agnostic with a promising safety profile as well as unexpected clinical efficacy in our published phase 1b trial. We have since designed a rigorous double-blinded add-on placebo-controlled trial involving our implantable biologic drug device. We conclude that IGV-001 provides a novel immunotherapy platform for historically intransigent ndGBM in this ongoing phase 2b trial (NCT04485949).

Cancer Vaccines in the Immunotherapy Era: Promise and Potential

Therapeutic vaccines are a promising alternative for active immunotherapy for different types of cancers. Therapeutic cancer vaccines aim to prevent immune system responses that are not targeted at the tumors only, but also boost the anti-tumor immunity and promote regression or eradication of the malignancy without, or with minimal, adverse events. Clinical trial data have pushed the development of cancer vaccines forward, and the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the first therapeutic cancer vaccine. In the present review, we discuss the various types of cancer vaccines and different approaches for the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines, along with the current state of knowledge and future prospects. We also discuss how tumor-induced immune suppression limits the effectiveness of therapeutic vaccinations, and strategies to overcome this barrier to design efficacious, long-lasting anti-tumor immune responses in the generation of vaccines.

A Therapeutic Vaccine Targeting Rat BORIS (CTCFL) for the Treatment of Rat Breast Cancer Tumors

Cancer testis antigens are ideal for tumor immunotherapy due to their testis-restricted expression. We previously showed that an immunotherapeutic vaccine targeting the germ cell-specific transcription factor BORIS (CTCFL) was highly effective in treating aggressive breast cancer in the 4T1 mouse model. Here, we further tested the therapeutic efficacy of BORIS in a rat 13762 breast cancer model. We generated a recombinant VEE-VRP (Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis-derived replicon particle) vector-expressing modified rat BORIS lacking a DNA-binding domain (VRP-mBORIS). Rats were inoculated with the 13762 cells, immunized with VRP-mBORIS 48 h later, and then, subsequently, boosted at 10-day intervals. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis. Cured rats were re-challenged with the same 13762 cells. We demonstrated that BORIS was expressed in a small population of the 13762 cells, called cancer stem cells. Treatment of rats with VRP-BORIS suppressed tumor growth leading to its complete disappearance in up to 50% of the rats and significantly improved their survival. This improvement was associated with the induction of BORIS-specific cellular immune responses measured by T-helper cell proliferation and INFγ secretion. The re-challenging of cured rats with the same 13762 cells indicated that the immune response prevented tumor growth. Thus, a therapeutic vaccine against rat BORIS showed high efficacy in treating the rat 13762 carcinoma. These data suggest that targeting BORIS can lead to the elimination of mammary tumors and cure animals even though BORIS expression is detected only in cancer stem cells.