Fig. 6

Anti-telomerase immunotherapy. Several telomerase-based vaccines have been developed, which sensitize immune cells to cancer cells expressing hTERT peptides as surface antigens via the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and class II pathways. This results in an expansion of telomerase-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in cancer patients leading T cells to target and kill telomerase-positive tumor cells. GV1001 is an MHC class II-restricted hTERT peptide that is further processed by antigen presenting cells (APCs) to present as an MHC class I peptide, and it produces both CD4⁺- and CD8⁺-based immune responses. GRNVAC1 stimulates CD4⁺ T cells to target and kill hTERT-expressing tumor cells. Vx001 action is mediated by CD8⁺ T cells