An RNA vaccine drives immunity in checkpoint-inhibitor-treated melanoma

Ugur Sahin (), Petra Oehm, Evelyna Derhovanessian, Robert A. Jabulowsky, Mathias Vormehr, Maike Gold, Daniel Maurus, Doreen Schwarck-Kokarakis, Andreas N. Kuhn, Tana Omokoko, Lena M. Kranz, Mustafa Diken, Sebastian Kreiter, Heinrich Haas, Sebastian Attig, Richard Rae, Katarina Cuk, Alexandra Kemmer-Brück, Andrea Breitkreuz, Claudia Tolliver, Janina Caspar, Juliane Quinkhardt, Lisa Hebich, Malte Stein, Alexander Hohberger, Isabel Vogler, Inga Liebig, Stephanie Renken, Julian Sikorski, Melanie Leierer, Verena Müller, Heidrun Mitzel-Rink, Matthias Miederer, Christoph Huber, Stephan Grabbe, Jochen Utikal, Andreas Pinter, Roland Kaufmann, Jessica C. Hassel, Carmen Loquai and Özlem Türeci
Additional contact information
Ugur Sahin: BioNTech
Petra Oehm: BioNTech
Evelyna Derhovanessian: BioNTech
Robert A. Jabulowsky: BioNTech
Mathias Vormehr: BioNTech
Maike Gold: BioNTech
Daniel Maurus: BioNTech
Doreen Schwarck-Kokarakis: BioNTech
Andreas N. Kuhn: BioNTech
Tana Omokoko: BioNTech
Lena M. Kranz: BioNTech
Mustafa Diken: BioNTech
Sebastian Kreiter: BioNTech
Heinrich Haas: BioNTech
Sebastian Attig: Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz gGmbH
Richard Rae: Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz gGmbH
Katarina Cuk: BioNTech
Alexandra Kemmer-Brück: BioNTech
Andrea Breitkreuz: BioNTech
Claudia Tolliver: BioNTech
Janina Caspar: BioNTech
Juliane Quinkhardt: BioNTech
Lisa Hebich: BioNTech
Malte Stein: BioNTech
Alexander Hohberger: Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz gGmbH
Isabel Vogler: BioNTech
Inga Liebig: BioNTech
Stephanie Renken: BioNTech
Julian Sikorski: BioNTech
Melanie Leierer: Heidelberg University Hospital
Verena Müller: Skin Cancer Unit, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Heidrun Mitzel-Rink: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Matthias Miederer: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Christoph Huber: BioNTech
Stephan Grabbe: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Jochen Utikal: Skin Cancer Unit, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Andreas Pinter: University Hospital Frankfurt am Main
Roland Kaufmann: University Hospital Frankfurt am Main
Jessica C. Hassel: Heidelberg University Hospital
Carmen Loquai: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Özlem Türeci: BioNTech

Nature, 2020, vol. 585, issue 7823, 107-112

Abstract: Abstract Treating patients who have cancer with vaccines that stimulate a targeted immune response is conceptually appealing, but cancer vaccine trials have not been successful in late-stage patients with treatment-refractory tumours1,2. We are testing melanoma FixVac (BNT111)—an intravenously administered liposomal RNA (RNA-LPX) vaccine, which targets four non-mutated, tumour-associated antigens that are prevalent in melanoma—in an ongoing, first-in-human, dose-escalation phase I trial in patients with advanced melanoma (Lipo-MERIT trial, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02410733). We report here data from an exploratory interim analysis that show that melanoma FixVac, alone or in combination with blockade of the checkpoint inhibitor PD1, mediates durable objective responses in checkpoint-inhibitor (CPI)-experienced patients with unresectable melanoma. Clinical responses are accompanied by the induction of strong CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immunity against the vaccine antigens. The antigen-specific cytotoxic T-cell responses in some responders reach magnitudes typically reported for adoptive T-cell therapy, and are durable. Our findings indicate that RNA-LPX vaccination is a potent immunotherapy in patients with CPI-experienced melanoma, and suggest the general utility of non-mutant shared tumour antigens as targets for cancer vaccination.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2537-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:585:y:2020:i:7823:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2537-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2537-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().