Replies to post #3110 on NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[Doktornolittle]

Thanks for the Animation Flipper.

That does help. PD-L1 is apparently a white flag that the tumor displays on the surface in response to detecting anti-tumor activity. A white flag as in ... "I'm a good guy, don't kill me", not "I give up". Those tumors are not very honorable.

Knowing that much will give me traction as I read more detailed descriptions of that part of the immune system. Without that, it was all gobbeldy-goop (sp?).

Now I need to learn why in the world such a function would exist. If there is some good function for PD-L1 in the immune system, then PD-L1 blocking with synthetic antibodies would be dicey.

I will keep in mind: This is a quickly expanding field, and any therapy undergoing the lengthy Phase 1,2, and 3 trials required could be improved by the time you get to the end. You can't worry about that. Just know that however good the results, it is likely the process can be tweaked after approval to get even better results. The most worthy of therapies for such a long approval process would be therapies with a broad approach, such as DCVax-L where only minor tweaking or supplementation need be considered after approval.

[longusa]

Flipper, thanks for the animation link. Very useful in understanding PD1 / PD-L1. As well, that Genentech site is a great reference site for much/all (I'm not an MD so don't know if something is missing) of the biology of cancers; though written for someone already somewhat versed in the field, so need Wikipedia open in another browser to look up some of the words!

[ou71764]

I also thank you for the link, Flipper. I don't quite get what you're saying about DCVax-Direct and DCVax-L, with the live vs dead tumor comparison.

Are you thinking that because DCVax-Direct doesn't have a fixed set of cancer biomarkers at the time it is injected into the patient, that it will automatically adapt to any additional mutations the cancer has? Whereas DCVax-L will only attack the cancer as it existed at the time of the surgery?

If that is the case, are you saying that you expect the human results for DCVax-Direct to potentially match the preclinical results?