Cancer, the Immune System, and TAP
In many cancers the tumor associated antigen is missing from MHC class I because the assembly of this complex has been disrupted. This occurs in many tumors because TAP is expressed at very low levels. As a consequence, tumor associated antigens generated in cancerous cells are not transported into the ER, thus preventing the assembly of functional MHC class I antigen. This results in the MHC on the cell surface missing the tumor antigen peptides that identify the cell as being cancerous. These cells, without functional MHC on their cell surface, are hidden from the cellular arm of the immune system and grow into tumors that eventually kill the person. Loss of TAP expression in tumors is highly correlated with disease progression and survival rates in humans. Clinical studies on melanoma when examining primary and metastatic tumors, show a clear and significant correlation between TAP expression and survival. Clinical studies on resected tumors correlate metastasis of breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, small cell lung cancer, renal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, laryngeal papillamatosis, with low or absent TAP expression.
Product Development Status
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Product |
Description |
Product Advantage |
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THERAPEUTIC VACCINE FOR CANCER:
“AdhTAP” |
Therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of TAP deficient solid tumors, metastic cancers and chronic infectious disease.
The AdhTAP vaccine resurrects MHC I expression in tumors allowing their recognition by Killer T cells. |
- TAP reconstitutes cancer markers to be recognized for destruction in the target cells.
- Effective against the majority of solid tumors and advantageous over tumor-specific vaccines
- Not dependant on patient’s genetics as with other immunotherapy approaches.
- Therapeutic in TAP deficient metastatic cancers
- Ability to complement most of the current immunotherapy approaches in a vaccine market estimated to reach $21b by 2010*.
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PROPHYLACTIC VACCINE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES:
“MVA-TAP” |
Prophylactic vaccine adjuvant for the protection against Smallpox. This same vaccine also has applications as an adjuvant against numerous infectious diseases. |
Significantly reduces the amount of vaccine inoculate required to achieve prophylactic levels which:
- Reduces the batch size that is required to immunize a population.
- Allows the production of adequate doses of vaccines to be available in times of acute need
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*Global Vaccine Market Outlook (2007-2010), Research & Markets.
Work Program
TapImmune’s strategy is to enter Phase I / II clinical trials with the innovative TAP vaccine for oncology and infectious disease. We will also seek partnerships for follow-on development. The key elements of the company’s near term strategy are:
- Commence production of clinical grade vaccine
- Complete preclinical studies for AdhTAP vaccine
- File IND and initiate Phase I clinical trials for oncology
- Replicate smallpox efficacy studies for the MVA-TAP vaccine (for business development purposes)
Note: the above work plan will progress concurrently.
