New success for SIRION Biotech vaccination candidate Ad19a/64

Martinsried, Germany: – Viral vector specialist SIRION Biotech’s latest adenovirus serotype Ad19a/64 has reinforced its credentials as a promising vaccination candidate by scoring top marks in a prime boost experiment.

Oncology specialists consider Ad19a/64 to form a promising vaccination and immune oncology tool because it transduces human dendritic cells and myoblasts better than standard adenoviral serotypes.

In October 2016, SIRION reported that using Ad19a to express an antigen had elicited solid immunization in mice, even among animals pre-immunized against common Ad serotypes.

Powerful prime reagent

Now results from a later study have demonstrated that Ad19a/64 vectors can also act as a powerful prime reagent in a two-step prime boost vaccination approach.

In this experiment, animals were first treated with antigen-expressing Ad19a/64. Given alone, this already elicits a solid increase of IFNg and TNFa positive T-cells in the spleen of the animals, indicating immunization. Five weeks after this prime, a secondary boost by DNA vectors was administered. This led to an added increase of marker-positive T-cells by a factor of 20.

POC study

“The synergistic effect of Ad19a/64 combined with a second vector system underline its value as a high potential vaccination candidate to treat a number of yet unmet needs,” said SIRION Biotech CEO, Dr. Christian Thirion.

“Further studies by leading scientific groups are currently being conducted, including a vaccination trial in non-human primates and a proof of concept (POC) study to establish an immune oncology platform,” Dr. Thirion added.

Initial results from the new studies are expected in early January 2017.

About SIRION Biotech

Founded at Martinsried, near Munich, in 2007, SIRION Biotech has become Europe’s leading commercial supplier of viral vectors used for genetic research, clinical target validation, gene therapy and vaccination studies.

From the beginning, SIRION’s mission has been to change the paradigm for viral vector supplies, with ability to develop and supply all common viral vector types (adenovirus, lentivirus, AAV, etc.) within a matter of weeks at the concentration titers and quantities needed for preclinical testing.

The company also offers a full range of virus related services, ranging from particle production to virus driven cell modeling.

SIRION offerings include the transformational lentiBOOSTTM for high efficiency transduction hematopoietic stem cells and T-cells – even in clinical applications.

SIRION’s core expertise lies in custom virus generation for genetic engineering of mammalian cell systems. With its comprehensive viral vector portfolio, SIRION offers a suitable option for almost any in vitro and in vivo situation. SIRION can supply all three of the most commonly used virus systems for gene manipulation: recombinant adenovirus particles (AVs), lentiviruses and adeno-associated viruses (AAVs).