Alice’s Arc is investing £670,000 in a three-year research project aiming to develop and test the efficacy of a bespoke neoantigen mRNA vaccine as an adjuvant therapy for patients who have undergone multi-modality treatment for rhabdomyosarcoma. The work will also focus on generating a therapeutic pipeline to test these vaccines in clinical trials for rhabdomyosarcoma patients.
Rhabdomyosarcoma develops from skeletal muscle cells and can occur in various parts of the body, including the head, neck, bladder and limbs. While current treatments combining surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be effective in some cases, survival rates for children who relapse or present with metastatic disease remain poor. There is therefore an urgent need for new and targeted therapies to prevent recurrence and improve long-term outcomes.
Co-Founder and CEO of Alice’s Arc, Sara Wakeling, said: 'Our mission is to drive new treatment options for rhabdomyosarcoma patients at both frontline and relapse stages. The development of mRNA vaccines is an exciting frontier in cancer therapy, and we are proud to collaborate with Oxford to ensure children with rhabdomyosarcoma are at the forefront of these scientific advances.'
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Medicine website.