NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[jondoeuk]

''Clearly Dr Rosenberg has no knowledge whatsoever of NWBO and they have accomplished with DCVAX . . .''

The company hasn't accomplished anything yet and I would think Dr. Rosenberg is aware of NWBO/the vaccine.

''He is the main person for cancer immuno therapy at the NIH . . . REALLY???''

He was awarded the Szent-Györgyi Prize, helped pioneer LAK cells (which didn't pan out) [1], TIL [2], TCR-T [3] and published years before Dr. June on an anti-CD19 CAR-T [4]. Also, he and his team have shown they are able to identify tumour reactive cells in the circulation so might not have to do surgical resections in patients [5,6].

''Someone should make him aware of the still blinded data that has been published' so he doesn't go around making apparently uninformed statements like''

He is right. In this paper [7] the authors looked at survival in patients with and without REP (Rapid Early Progression). It was assessed after surgery, but before radiotherapy and chemotherapy. So, in patients who didn't have REP, for unmethylated they saw a median survival of 19.6 months and for methylated they saw 34.7 months. In the DCVax-L blinded/blended paper: 19.8 months and 34.7 months [8].

''He is also clearly and understandably enamored with his technique that even with his presentation has had limited and fairly dated success stories.''

This is very much a 1st Gen version. IOVA are working on a number of ways to improve efficacy. The first is to use PD1 positive TIL as the expression of this identifies the neoantigen-specific T-cells [9]. Earlier data from the U.S. NCI showed an improved response rate when compared to non-PD1 positive ('bulk') TIL [10]. They are looking at using different cytokines/agonistic antibody cocktails to enhance the expansion and effector functions [11-14]. Along with ways to attenuate cell differentiation [15], increase memory subsets [16,17] and 'silence' certain checkpoints [18].

''Are the big names in cancer vaccine therapy really Bridgestone and Neon?''

Yes, they are.

''He sounds substantially out of touch.''

Well, he is not. The only way to combat tumour complexity is to engineer T- and NK cell based therapies.

Refs:
1 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198512053132327
2 https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-med-112311-083918
3 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/314/5796/126.long
4 http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/116/20/4099.long
5 https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.4051
6 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08304-z
7 https://journals.lww.com/amjclinicaloncology/Abstract/2019/05000/Rapid_Early_Tumor_Progression_is_Prognostic_in.11.aspx
8 https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-018-1507-6
9 https://www.jci.org/articles/view/73639
10 https://journals.lww.com/immunotherapy-journal/Abstract/2010/11000/Selection_of_CD8_PD_1__Lymphocytes_in_Fresh_Human.4.aspx
11 http://www.jimmunol.org/content/175/4/2261.long
12 http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/115/17/3508.long
13 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0060031
14 https://journals.lww.com/immunotherapy-journal/Abstract/2018/11000/Utilizing_T_cell_Activation_Signals_1,_2,_and_3.2.aspx
15 http://www.jimmunol.org/content/198/1_Supplement/198.1
16 http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/75/2/296.long
17 http://www.jimmunol.org/content/178/1_Supplement/LB30.3
18 https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/molecular-therapy/fulltext/S1525-0016(18)30172-2