three questions about the cancer vaccine developed by a French company

Injections for all people with cancer in France are not yet forthcoming, but the progress is there. The French company Transgene will take advantage of the World Congress of Oncology in Chicago (United States) to present Monday, June 5 the progress made in the development of a vaccine to treat certain cancers, a product that it has been developing for several years. Franceinfo answers three questions about this medical innovation.

1What is this vaccine?

The vaccine developed by the biotechnology company Transgene does not prevent the onset of cancer, but treats the disease. “It delays or prevents recidivism”explains Christophe Le Tourneau, head of clinical trials at the Institut Curie and French specialist in oncology, in The Parisian (paid item). The vaccine developed by Transgene primarily concerns cancers of the throat, tongue and respiratory tract (ENT cancers), as these present the greatest risk of relapses that are difficult to treat. But the company is also developing a vaccine against the papillomavirus.

2 How does it work ?

A piece of the patient’s tumor will be removed during an operation before being genetically sequenced. Then, a Japanese artificial intelligence will try to identify the 30 most risky mutations for the patient, out of 3,000 possible. “You have to find that needle in that haystack”, summarizes Hedi Ben Brahim, CEO of Transgene, on BFMTV. Artificial intelligence must therefore “detect the best mutations to make a truly effective vaccine”.

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The vaccine specific to each patient is then developed in Strasbourg, at the headquarters of Transgene. This vaccine “will educate the immune system to develop antibodies capable of destroying cancer cells”summarizes Christophe Le Tourneau in The Parisian. This vaccine takes the form of 20 subcutaneous injections.

3Where is the development of this vaccine?

For now, the Alsatian company will present the results of phase I: 31 patients participated in this study. Of the 16 people who have received the vaccine so far, none have relapsed. “Most importantly, all of them developed an immune response, which shows that the vaccine is working”welcomes Christophe Le Tourneau in The Parisian. The challenge for the future is to move to phase II, with a test on several hundred people, then to phase III on several thousand patients.