A miniature device the size and shape of an aspirin tablet could provide new options for people with cancer. Developed in the lab of Pinkas Family professor of bioengineering David Mooney, the implantable vaccine, inserted under a patient’s skin, operates like a tiny factory where immune cells of one kind are transformed to train other immune cells to eradicate tumors.
The tablet-like device emits a signal that attracts dendritic cells, the messengers of the immune system, which carry information about the pathogens and toxins they encounter to other immune cells. The dendritic cells “literally crawl inside the plastic device” to be activated by freeze-dried fragments of the patient’s own tumor, Mooney explains. Once the dendritic cells have become activated, they “home to the nearest lymph node,” where they encounter T cells that they train to recognize and destroy cancer cells. The T cells then multiply and circulate through the body, dissolving the patient’s tumor.
Estrogen receptor (ER) is present in 85% of all breast cancers, and more than 90% of ER+ positive breast cancers also contain the AR which has been demonstrated to be an important therapeutic target in ER+ breast cancer. Enobosarm is an oral drug that selectively targets the AR in breast cancer without having the unwanted virilizing androgen adverse side effects including facial hair, acne, increase in hematocrit, or liver toxicity, while having potential clinical benefits including increasing muscle and physical function as well addressing cancer treatment induced bone loss and fractures. Enobosarm has extensive nonclinical and clinical experience having been evaluated in 25 separate clinical studies with 2,091 enrolled patients, including three Phase 2 clinical studies in advanced breast cancer. There are also at least two enobosarm investigator-initiated Phase 2 clinical studies in advanced breast cancer.
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