or over ten years ago. "It took a while to dissect what elements of an immune response were best able to cause the rejection of established tumors," she says. "But in the last couple of years it has paid off and we are very excited to see the technology finally being tested in cancer patients. The dream of the cancer immunotherapist is to provide an alternative and more humane way of controlling metastatic disease than current chemotherapies."

The Listeria vector is currently being prepared for a clinical trial targeting a tumor antigen associated with cervical cancer by Advaxis Inc., a cancer vaccine biotech company that has licensed Penn patents on the use of Listeria monocytogenes as a vaccine vector. Paterson is the scientific founder of Advaxis and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board. The successful demonstration that the Listeria vector technology can also be used with the HER-2/neu molecule paves the way for applying this promising cancer vaccine approach to breast cancer.

This research was funded by the Department of Defense and the National Cancer Institute. Co-authors are Reshma Singh and Mary E. Dominiecki, both from Penn, as well as Elizabeth M. Jaffee from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This release and related images can also be found at: www.uphs.upenn.edu/news.

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Contact: Karen Kreeger
karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5658
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
14-Sep-2005

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