Share on PinterestExperimental vaccine prevents colorectal, pancreatic cancer recurrence in early trial. Image credit: Alina Kostrytsia/Getty Images
- Gastrointestinal cancers — including pancreatic, and colorectal cancers — account for about 26% of all cancers worldwide.
- Both pancreatic and colorectal cancers are susceptible to gene mutations called KRAS mutations, which can make these cancers harder to treat.
- A new study shows that an ‘off-the-shelf’ vaccine may help prevent or delay cancer recurrence in people with colorectal or pancreatic cancer tumors driven by KRAS mutations.
Research shows that gastrointestinal cancers — including stomach, liver, esophageal, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers — account for about 26% of all cancers worldwide and 35% of all cancer-related deaths.
Colorectal cancer is currently considered to be the third most common type of cancer globally, and the second most common cause of cancer-related death.
While pancreatic cancer ranks as the 12th most common cancer worldwide, it is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related death.
Both pancreatic and colorectal cancers are susceptible to gene mutations called KRAS mutations. These mutations can cause cells to grow and divide very rapidly, potentially leading to cancer. Cancers with KRAS mutations have historically been hard to treat.
Now, a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine shows that an “off-the-shelf” vaccine may help prevent or delay cancer recurrence in people with colorectal or pancreatic cancer tumors driven by KRAS mutations.
What does the ‘off-the-shelf’ cancer vaccine do?
For this study, which included follow-up data from the AMPLIFY-201 phase 1 trial, researchers recruited 25 participants with either colon or pancreatic cancer, who had undergone surgery and still showed traces of cancer DNA in their blood, which is an indicator of potential cancer relapse.
Participants received injections of ELI-002 2P — an “off-the-shelf” or standardized vaccine that can revive the body’s immune system so it recognizes and attacks cancer cells in a general way.
“We took a unique approach in AMPLIFLY-201, employing a diagnostic that detects circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and tests that identify a tumor protein, CA19-9, in the blood, to identify patients who show signs of minimal residual disease in their blood, but before relapse is detected in traditional radiographic scans,” Zev Wainberg, MD, MSc, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and researcher in the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and first author of this study, explained for Medical News Today.
“This group of pancreatic patients in historical studies really needed better treatment since their median time until relapse was historically only five to six months. The study also enrolled five colorectal cancer patients, who also had high risk of relapse with positive tests to tumor markers in the blood,” Wainberg told us.
Overall survival longer than previous results indicated
At the study’s conclusion, researchers found that after a follow-up of almost 20 months, participants’ average relapse-free survival was 16.33 months and average overall survival was almost 29 months.
“These are a lot longer than the historical results of these patients,” Wainberg commented.
Scientists reported that 24% of participants experienced a complete clearing of biomarkers associated with their tumors. And 67% of participants developed immune responses to other tumor-related mutations.
“Targeting KRAS has long been considered one of the difficult challenges in cancer therapy,” Wainberg said in a press release, noting that:
“This study shows that the ELI-002 2P vaccine can safely and effectively train the immune system to recognize and fight cancer-driving mutations. It offers a promising approach to generating precise and durable immune responses without the complexity or cost of fully personalized vaccines.”
Could this experimental vaccine possibly prevent cancer?
Anton Bilchik, MD, PhD, surgical oncologist, chief of medicine and Director of the Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Program at Providence Saint John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, CA, told MNT that these findings are very exciting and very important, given that pancreatic cancer is a deadly cancer and the treatments, while being more effective than they were maybe 10 years ago, are still relatively ineffective in terms of curing patients with pancreatic cancer.
“Secondly, immunotherapy has really not been shown to be effective for either the treatment of pancreas cancer, and has been shown to be effective only in a very small subset of patients with advanced colon cancer,” Bilchik, who was not involved in the study, added.
“So the fact that this study shows that a T cell-based vaccine can improve survival in patients with pancreas cancer and colon cancer is innovative, is very exciting, and certainly opens up the possibilities of immunotherapy as a possible effective treatment for what is a deadly cancer, in particular, pancreas cancer,” he continued.
While this study is important, Bilchik said it is just the tip of the iceberg, with more studies needed to be done, including some looking at whether or not this vaccine might be able to help prevent cancer in the first place.
“So before people have a chance to get pancreas cancer, if they get a blood test that shows tumor cells or shows that they’re at risk for getting these cancers, would this type of vaccine prevent them from getting cancer?” he asked.
Why novel approaches to KRAS-driven cancers are important
MNT also spoke with Usman Shah, MD, medical director of gastrointestinal oncology at Atlantic Health’s Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey, about this study.
Shah, who was not involved in the research, commented he reviewed the findings with both enthusiasm and cautious optimism.
“In this trial, patients with minimal residual disease — as evidenced by biomarkers like CA19-9, CEA, and/or circulating tumor DNA — were treated with ELI‑002, a cancer vaccine targeting KRAS mutations,” Shah said.
“This phase 1 study demonstrated that 68% of participants developed robust T cell responses, which importantly correlated with significantly improved relapse-free survival and overall survival. As this approach uses an off-the-shelf vaccine approach, it can be more accessible to more patients in a shorter time than personalized vaccine treatments.”
– Usman Shah, MD
“The importance of developing novel approaches for KRAS-driven cancers cannot be overstated, as KRAS mutations are prevalent in several solid tumors and are associated with poor prognosis,” he continued. “For example, 90-95% of pancreatic cancers harbor a KRAS mutation. ELI‑002’s ability to induce strong and durable immune responses offers a potential strategy to prevent cancer recurrence in high-risk patients.”
“Early hints from the randomized AMPLIFY‑7P trial evaluating this approach against standard of care are encouraging, although final results are pending,” Shah added. “Continued investment in such innovative approaches is essential to improving outcomes for patients with KRAS-mutant cancers.”
