Image Number 17 for United States Patent #8097244.
Combinations of cell lines are provided for allogeneic immunotherapy agents in the treatment of cancer. Cancer vaccines generally have been limited to the use of cells that contain at least some tumor specific antigens ("TSAs") and/or tumor associated antigens ("TAAs") having shared identity with antigens in a targeted tumor. In such cases, tumor cells often are utilized as a starting point on the premise that only tumor cells will contain TSAs or TAAs or relevance, and the tissue origins of the cells are matched to the tumor site in patients. A primary aspect of the invention is the use of immortalised normal, non-malignant cells, in combination with primary and/or metastatic tumor cells, as the basis of an allogeneic cell cancer vaccine. Normal cells do not posses TSAs or relevant concentrations of TAAs and hence it is surprising that normal cells are effective as anti-cancer vaccines when administered in combination with primary and/or metastatic tumor cells. More surprisingly, a three way combination of cells obtained from metastasized cells, non metastasized tumor and cells from a normal cell line provided good therapy. For prostate cancer, for example, a vaccine may be based on one or a combination of different immortalized normal cell lines derived from the prostate according to parameters described herein. The cell lines may be lethally irradiated with, for example, gamma irradiation at 50-300 Gy to ensure that they are replication incompetent prior to use.
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