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Therion's Approach to Treating Cancer

Current treatments for cancer involve drug therapy (including chemotherapy), surgery, and radiation. Cancer drug therapy is undergoing a period of major change. Traditional cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy, work by attacking cells that divide quickly, preventing them from growing or multiplying. Unfortunately, healthy cells, especially those that rapidly divide such as hair, can also be harmed. In contrast to chemotherapy, Therion's biological therapies are intended to target specific antigens (proteins) found on cancer cells without causing serious side effects.

Therion's Vaccine Technology

Therion's therapies consist of three distinct components:

1. Vaccines
The backbone of Therion's treatments, vaccines are used to introduce elements into the body. Therion uses existing vaccines (similar to the vaccine used to eradicate smallpox) that are readily recognized by the body to trigger a targeted immune response.

2. Tumor-associated antigens (TAA)
Cancer cells express a variety of tumor-associated antigens (or proteins). Normally, these tumor antigens do not trigger an immune response in the patient. Therion's technology is intended to teach the immune system to recognize these specific antigens and generate a cellular immune response to recognize and attack cancer cells. For pancreatic cancer, Therion's PANVAC-VF targets the tumor antigens carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and mucin-1 (MUC-1), proteins that are found on over 90 percent of pancreatic tumors. For prostate cancer, Therion's PROSTVAC-VF targets prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein associated with prostate cancer.

3. Costimulatory molecules (TRICOM™)
Therion has identified three molecules (ICAM-1, B7.1 and LFA-3) that are very important in recruiting several components of the immune system to mount an attack against cancer cells. When used together, Therion refers to these molecules as TRICOM™, which is short for TRIad of COstimulatory Molecules. These substances, also found naturally in the body, are added to the vaccine with the intent to enhance and sustain a targeted anti-cancer immune response.

The vaccines are administered over several months. The patient receives an initial "priming" dose intended to initiate the immune response, followed by a series of "booster" vaccinations to sustain the response.

Above: Proposed Mechanism of Action. The vaccines are created by incorporating tumor-associated antigens (TAA) and costimulatory molecules into a vaccine vector. Injecting the vaccine into the patient triggers the immune system. Antigen-presenting cells absorb the vaccine and display the antigens and costimulatory molecules to helper T cells. The helper T cells then release chemicals, called cytokines, which activate another class of T cells known as cytotoxic or killer T cells. These T cells now recognize, attack, and destroy cancer cells that bear these antigens.

For more detailed information on the science behind Therion's vaccines, several recent scientific papers are available in the company's press room.