Doubling of survival chances due to vaccine among dogs with bladder cancer
Therapeutic vaccine treatments against cancer are on the rise. However, cancer cells mutate rapidly, and resistance quickly develops to all angiogenesis inhibitors that target tumor-produced factors (or their receptors).
CimCure (Stichting Amsterdam UMC), does not focus on the tumors themselves when developing human vaccines, but rather on the tumor blood vessels. These blood vessels are 100% genetically stable and will therefore not mutate or become resistant to treatment.
The first vaccine tested on dogs targets vimentin, a protein externalized by activated endothelial cells in tumors. The e-VIM vaccine has already been tested on 41 dogs with bladder cancer (as shown in the graph), and a study is currently underway on 20 dogs with hemangiosarcoma and 15 dogs with osteosarcoma.
In addition to monitoring tumor size, blood composition, and survival rates, this study also includes investigating metastasis- and resistance development.
“Benno Therapeutics builds on this by developing pet-specific vaccines”