£2.66m MRC research grant for pioneering Clatterbridge-led vaccine trial
Posted 13th September 2023
Professor Christian Ottensmeier - Director of Clinical Research and a Consultant Medical Oncologist here at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre - has secured £2.66m Medical Research Council funding with a colleague at the University of Liverpool to develop and trial a novel immunotherapy ‘cancer vaccine’ for non-small cell lung cancer.
The grant is fantastic news for cancer research, for clinical trials and for future patients because non-small cell lung cancer is one of the hardest cancers to treat currently. Clatterbridge patients will be involved in clinical trials of the new vaccine, which is developed using an innovative technique that has been nicknamed ‘doggybone’ DNA because the produced DNA is shaped like a dog's bone. The story below includes more information about what makes this such an exciting potential development in cancer care.
News from the University of Liverpool and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
Liverpool researchers have secured £2.66m Medical Research Council funding to clinically test a novel immunotherapeutic strategy for non-small cell lung cancer – one of the most deadly cancers.
Professor Christian Ottensmeier (pictured above) and Professor Natalia Savelyeva from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology are collaborating with industry partner Genomics England and are also working closely with Touchlight Genetics Ltd to develop a vaccine therapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer who have not had sufficient benefit from standard immunotherapy.
Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer, with almost 50,000 new diagnoses each year. It is the third most prevalent cancer in the UK and, globally, it is estimated that there were 2.2million new cases in 2020 alone.
Professor Christian Ottensmeier, the chief investigator on the clinical trial and a Consultant in Medical Oncology at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“In this new trial we will make a personalised cancer vaccine for each patient. We want to train the patient’s own immune system by targeting mutations in patients’ individual cancer. We think that this approach could help where standard immunotherapy is not sufficient. This is the case for the majority of patients with lung cancer, where the immune system has not been effective at recognising the cancer cells - we call these tumours ‘immune cold’.”
Professor Natalia Savelyeva added:
“Cancer vaccines hold the promise to turn ‘immune cold’ cancers into ‘immune hot’ cancers and if successful could help more than 50% of patients with advanced lung cancer and potentially also patients with other cancers. We are very excited to develop this trial and look forward to making the vaccines available to the patients with non-small cell lung cancer that are seen in our region and at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust .”
Gillian Heap, Director of Research Operations at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said:
“Part of our mission as a leading cancer centre is to carry out research that paves the way to new and improved treatments that will benefit patients. This funding to develop and trial a novel immunotherapy that could offer new treatment options to our patients is very exciting news.”
The team will use the funding to develop the trial to rapidly create personalised ‘doggybone DNA’ vaccines for patients, whose cancer is not benefiting sufficiently from standard immunotherapy. Doggybone DNA production - so called as the produced DNA is shaped like a dog’s bone - involves replication of a DNA using enzymes in a test tube. Compared to standard DNA vaccine production the doggybone approach is more cost effective and, significantly, is quicker when creating personalised genetic medicine.
Dr Helen Horton, Chief Research Officer, Touchlight Genetics Ltd said: “We are very excited to work with Profs Ottensmeier, and Savelyeva. The doggybone DNA technology provides an ideal means to deliver rapid individual personalised vaccines to this large group of patients with an unmet clinical need and other patients with solid cancers.”
The funding was secured through the Development Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) and the team were supported through the bid process by the University of Liverpool’s IP Commercialisation team, who work with academics to realise the social and economic benefits of university technologies. The DPFS drives Medical Research Council funded research along the developmental pathway to enable clinical use, patient benefit and commercialisation.
