hTERT peptide vaccine

hTERT peptide vaccines are a class of cancer immunotherapies designed to stimulate the immune system to recognize and destroy cells expressing human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). hTERT is the catalytic subunit of telomerase, an enzyme responsible for maintaining telomere length, which is overexpressed in approximately 85-90% of all human cancers but has very limited expression in healthy adult tissues. This makes hTERT a nearly universal tumor-associated antigen (TAA). These vaccines typically consist of synthetic long or short peptides derived from the hTERT protein sequence. When administered, often alongside an adjuvant like GM-CSF (sargramostim), these peptides are processed and presented by HLA molecules on antigen-presenting cells, triggering the activation and proliferation of hTERT-specific CD4+ helper T cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells. Prominent examples in clinical development include UV1 (developed by Ultimovacs), which contains three long hTERT peptides, and GV1001 (developed by GemVax & KAEL). They are being investigated across various malignancies, including prostate cancer, melanoma, and non-small cell lung cancer, often in combination with checkpoint inhibitors or standard-of-care treatments.

Other names

telomerase peptide vaccinehTERT-derived peptide vaccinehTERT peptides vaccine