TAG vaccine (Sarah Cannon Research Institute, b3c263)

The TAG vaccine is an autologous whole-cell cancer vaccine developed by the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center in collaboration with Gradalis. It is a biologic therapeutic created by transfecting a patient's own harvested tumor cells with a dual-expression plasmid. This plasmid contains two active genetic components: a gene for granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and an antisense sequence for transforming growth factor beta-2 (TGFβ2). The GM-CSF component is intended to stimulate the immune system by enhancing dendritic cell migration and the expression of tumor antigens at the injection site. Simultaneously, the TGFβ2 antisense component blocks the production of the immunosuppressive TGFβ2 protein, which is often secreted by tumor cells to evade immune detection. This dual mechanism aims to enhance the systemic anti-tumor immune response while reducing local immune resistance. The vaccine has been evaluated in Phase I clinical trials for patients with advanced metastatic solid tumors and carcinomas that have failed standard therapies.

Other names

TGFβ2 Antisense-GMCSF Gene Modified Autologous Tumor Cell VaccineTGFB2-Antisense-GMCSF Gene Modified Autologous Tumor Cell VaccineTGFB-2-Antisense-GMCSF Gene Modified Autologous Tumor Cell VaccineTGFB 2-Antisense-GMCSF Gene Modified Autologous Tumor Cell VaccineTGFβ2 Antisense/GM-CSF gene-modified autologous tumor cell vaccine