Listeria monocytogenes is the species of pathogenic bacteria that causes the infection listeriosis. It is a facultative anaerobic bacterium, capable of surviving in the presence or absence of oxygen. It can grow and reproduce inside the host's cells and is one of the most virulent foodborne pathogens. Twenty to thirty percent of foodborne listeriosis infections in high-risk individuals may be fatal. In the European Union, listeriosis continues an upward trend that began in 2008, causing 2,161 confirmed cases and 210 reported deaths in 2014, 16% more than in 2013. In the EU, listeriosis mortality rates also are higher than those of other foodborne pathogens. Responsible for an estimated 1,600 illnesses and 260 deaths in the United States annually, listeriosis ranks third in total number of deaths among foodborne bacterial pathogens, with fatality rates exceeding even Salmonella spp. and Clostridium botulinum.
A cancer vaccine, or oncovaccine, is a vaccine that either treats existing cancer or prevents development of cancer. Vaccines that treat existing cancer are known as therapeutic cancer vaccines or tumor antigen vaccines. Some of the vaccines are "autologous", being prepared from samples taken from the patient, and are specific to that patient.
This is a list of AIDS-related topics, many of which were originally taken from the public domain U.S. Department of Health Glossary of HIV/AIDS-Related Terms, 4th Edition.
A Langerhans cell (LC) is a tissue-resident macrophage of the skin once thought to be a resident dendritic cell. These cells contain organelles called Birbeck granules. They are present in all layers of the epidermis and are most prominent in the stratum spinosum. They also occur in the papillary dermis, particularly around blood vessels, as well as in the mucosa of the mouth, foreskin, and vaginal epithelium. They can be found in other tissues, such as lymph nodes, particularly in association with the condition Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH).
Ludwig Cancer Research is an international community of scientists focused on cancer research, with the goal of preventing and controlling cancer. It encompasses the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, an international non-profit organization founded in 1971 by philanthropist Daniel K. Ludwig. The Institute is headquartered in New York City, with a European office located in Zürich. There are currently three Ludwig Branches: Ludwig Lausanne, Ludwig Oxford and Ludwig Princeton. In addition, there are six Ludwig Centers at leading institutions across the United States of America. Together, the Institute, Branches and Centers are known as Ludwig Cancer Research.
Tuberculosis (TB) vaccines are vaccinations intended for the prevention of tuberculosis. Immunotherapy as a defence against TB was first proposed in 1890 by Robert Koch. As of 2021, the only effective tuberculosis vaccine in common use is the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, first used on humans in 1921. It consists of attenuated (weakened) strains of the cattle tuberculosis bacillus. It is recommended for babies in countries where tuberculosis is common.
Agenus Inc. is a Lexington, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company focused on immunotherapy including immuno-oncology, a field that uses the immune system to control or cure cancer. The company is developing checkpoint modulators (CPMs), patient-specific anti-cancer vaccines, and adjuvants desugned for use with various vaccines. CPM development is a particularly fast-moving field, since early products have produced unprecedented clinical benefits for patients.
Listeriolysin O (LLO) is a hemolysin produced by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, the pathogen responsible for causing listeriosis. The toxin may be considered a virulence factor, since it is crucial for the virulence of L. monocytogenes.
Cancer immunoprevention is the prevention of cancer onset with immunological means such as vaccines, immunostimulators or antibodies. Cancer immunoprevention is conceptually different from cancer immunotherapy, which aims at stimulating immunity in patients only after tumor onset, however the same immunological means can be used both in immunoprevention and in immunotherapy.
Lovaxin C is a live attenuated Listeria cancer vaccine that is under investigation (2008) and has entered clinical trials. It is under development at Advaxis. Note: Lovaxin C has been renamed ADXS11-001
Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corporation was a Canadian-incorporated biopharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, California developing therapeutics for the treatment of viral infections and cancer, focusing on diseases caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Nventa is currently the only company applying heat shock protein (Hsp) technology to target the over 20 million Americans already infected with HPV. Previously headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, the company’s common stock traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol: NVN.
HspE7 is an investigational therapeutic vaccine candidate being developed by Nventa Biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of precancerous and cancerous lesions caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HspE7 uses recombinant DNA technology to covalently fuse a heat shock protein (Hsp) to a target antigen, thereby stimulating cellular immune system responses to specific diseases. HspE7 is a patented construct consisting of the HPV Type 16 E7 protein and heat shock protein 65 (Hsp65) and is currently the only candidate using Hsp technology to target the over 20 million Americans already infected with HPV.
Tecemotide is a synthetic lipopeptide that is used as antigen in an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine. The investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine is designed to induce a cellular immune response to cancer cells that express MUC1, a glycoprotein antigen that is widely over-expressed on common cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer. The cellular immune response may lead to a rejection of tumor tissue expressing the MUC1 antigen.
Neuvenge, Lapuleucel-T, is a therapeutic cancer vaccine (TCV) in development by Dendreon (DNDN). It uses the "immunotherapy platform approach" first successfully demonstrated on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved TCV Provenge. It was first tested on breast cancer patients with tumors expressing HER2/neu, and is now scheduled to be tested on bladder cancer patients.
PROSTVAC is a cancer immunotherapy candidate in clinical development by Bavarian Nordic for the treatment of all prostate cancer although clinical trials are focusing on more advanced cases of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). PROSTVAC is a vaccine designed to enable the immune system to recognize and attack prostate cancer cells by triggering a specific and targeted T cell immune response to cancer cells that express the tumor-associated antigen prostate-specific antigen (PSA).
Eftilagimod alpha is a large-molecule cancer drug being developed by the clinical-stage biotechnology company Immutep. Efti is a soluble version of the immune checkpoint molecule LAG-3. It is an APC Activator used to increase an immune response to tumors, and is administered by subcutaneous injection. Efti has three intended clinical settings:
Imugene Ltd is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing a range of new and novel immunotherapies that seek to activate the immune system of cancer patients to treat and eradicate tumours. Imugene's unique platform technologies seeks to harness the body's immune system against tumours, potentially achieving a similar or greater effect than synthetically manufactured monoclonal antibody and other immunotherapies.
Daniel A. Portnoy is a microbiologist, the Edward E. Penhoet Distinguished Chair in Global Public Health and Infectious Diseases, and a professor of biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and in the Division of Microbiology in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is one of the world's foremost experts on Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterium that causes the severe foodborne illness Listeriosis. He has made seminal contributions to multiple aspects of bacterial pathogenesis, cell biology, innate immunity, and cell mediated immunity using L. monocytogenes as a model system and has helped to push forward the use of attenuated L. monocytogenes as an immunotherapeutic tool in the treatment of cancer.
Transgene S.A. is a French biotechnology company founded in 1979. It is based in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, near Strasbourg, Alsace. The company develops and manufactures immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Based on viral vectors, these therapies stimulate the immune defenses of patients to specifically target cancer cells.
Cornelis Joseph Maria Melief is a Dutch immunologuist specialising in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, with a focus on therapeutic cancer vaccines. He is emeritus Professor, former head of the Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion at the Leiden University Medical Center, and Chief Scientific Officer at ISA Therapeutics in Netherlands. He is known for his work in the field of cancer immunology, devising new cancer therapies based on the activation of the patient's own immune system.
