NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[Doktornolittle]

Thank you Flipper: A wild ride through DCVax History.

I read the entire NIH article, and now my brain hurts. Hmmm. Good thing NWBO is close to finishing DCVax-L trials.

I will get more out of that article as I learn more terminology. This is certainly an area I could study for the duration; as an investor, a scientist, and as an interested and concerned person.

The article is a mix of good and bad news and in the end I don't walk away feeling quite as confident as I would like. However, there was one study that stood out (to me) as particularly positive.

"In a Phase I/II study of tumor lysate-loaded DC vaccination for malignant glioma, subcutaneous injections of DCs loaded with tumor lysate were administered biweekly for a total of three injections [43]. Elevated IFN-? mRNA levels in PBMCs, positive cytotoxicity assays, increased peripheral CD8+ CTLs, and increased infiltration of CD45RO+ memory and CD8+ T cells in progressive tumor corroborated a positive immune response. Additionally, this study reported an increased median survival in patients receiving vaccinations (133 weeks) compared to historical controls (30 weeks), further substantiating the viability of DC immunotherapy for glioma."

"43. Yu JS, Liu G, Ying H, et al. Vaccination with tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells elicits antigen-specific, cytotoxic T-cells in patients with malignant glioma. Cancer Res. 2004;64:4973–4979. [PubMed]"

This is a pretty concise synopsis of such a study. Perhaps I should assume that the detailed version of this study, or one like it, gave clues to NWBO well beyond the surface level of this article.

NWBO had to have gone into this effort with more confidence than this larger NIH article would suggest; but this article is written by the lead investigator at a prime clinic for DCVax-L.