Neuvenge

Key takeaways

Neuvenge belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Neuvenge to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Neuvenge from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Neuvenge, Lapuleucel-T (APC 8024), is a therapeutic cancer vaccine (TCV) in development (clinical trial) by Dendreon (DNDN). It uses the "immunotherapy platform approach" first successfully demonstrated on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved TCV Provenge. It was first tested on breast cancer patients with tumors expressing HER2/neu, and is now scheduled to be tested on bladder cancer patients.

History The concept of immunotherapy for cancer has been known for hundreds of years and was used by Dr William Coley et al. in the 1800s. Coley's Toxins are still available outside of the US. The idea of harnessing the antigen presenting cells (APC)'s to recognize cancer and target tumor cells for apoptosis (cell death) by the CD8 (cytotoxic cells) is a common approach to cancer vaccine researchers. This 1997 example article describes targeting EGFR and other cell products and attaching their antigens to the CD64 receptor cells also using GM-CSF to grow more cells. The NIH calls this topic "Biological response modifiers (BRMs) occur naturally in the body and can be produced in the laboratory. BRMs alter the interaction between the body's immune defenses and cancer cells to boost, direct, or restore the body's ability to fight the disease." Immunocompromising diseases have caused many deaths in human history. An ongoing example is Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) caused by the Human herpesvirus 8 virus normally controlled by the body's immune system. KS is normally a rare disease but AIDS has made it all to commonplace. AIDS patients, whose immune system has been compromised, fall victim to serious opportunistic infections such as (TB) and KS. The movie "Philadelphia (film)" gives a dramatic representation of AIDS and KS. A good method of preventing some cancers is to stop the viruses that lead to them. This is known as prophylactic treatment. The current cancer prophylactic vaccines are for Hepatitis B virus (HBV), HPV (cervical cancer, vaginal, vulvar cancer, penile, anal cancer) and HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer are all defenses utilizing immunotherapy against viruses that lead to cancer.

Milestones "A successful (TCV) is considered a milestone for cancer immunotherapy." The only approved TCVs, as of 2010, are Provenge in the US and Oncogene in Russia. DNDN's future will require a different skill set to manage the mass production of this first-of-a-kind product. There are 32,000+/yr deaths from prostate cancer (CaP) in the US and that is only those with metastatic CRPC. If most of these patients were to receive this product that would increase current 2,000 output 16X. When (If) the project is expanded to those whose CaP is still controlled by hormone therapy that number could easily quadruple for the US alone. Were this therapy to be used on ALL Prostate cancer patients as a monotherapy that's (120,000+/yr.in the US). If those who are still on hormone therapy the numbers are in the millions. There are currently 2,000,000+ CaP patients in the US. DNDN is busy building plants, which all require FDA approval, in Morris Plains, New Jersey, Atlanta, Georgia and (Los Angeles County, California area) Seal Beach, California (actually in Orange County, California) for large scale Provenge production. They are still seeking overseas partners for development offshore.

Prospects DNDN have stated that their therapy is not a one-hit wonder and they plan to "move forward one Provenge-like new cancer treatment every year". This will demonstrate that they really have an immunotherapy platform approach to cancer.

Combinational therapy Involves using:

Primary care surgery radiation Adjuvant care hormone deprevation for those cancers effected by sex steroids chemotherapy therapeutic vaccine therapy. Immunotherapy has added another tool or leg for Oncologist to fight cancer. This therapy could be a part of all the other therapies listed.

Neuvenge history Neuvenge is still in preliminary clinical trials and is evolving as of 2011. First Neuvenge trials were performed on patients with metastatic breast, ovarian or colorectal cancer that expressed HER-2 (HER2/neu). Some patients with stable disease after week 48 received an additional "booster" treatment using the identical protocol. Lapuleucel-T is an investigational active immunotherapy product consisting of autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells, including antigen presenting cells, which are cultured ex vivo with BA7072, a recombinant fusion antigen consisting of portions of the intracellular and extracellular regions of HER-2/neu linked to granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. In a change of course, DNDN is planning a bladder cancer clinical trial using Neuvenge to begin 2011. DNDN is also using ACI technology Active cellular immunotherapy "This is a therapeutic platform using the patient's own cells to simulate an immune response." These are two major candidates:

Carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9) for kidney, colon, cervical cancers Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) for breast, lung and colon cancers

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neuvenge

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neuvenge claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Neuvenge before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Neuvenge ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Neuvenge

In research: Neuvenge appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Neuvenge in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Neuvenge is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cancer vaccines, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neuvenge outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Neuvenge in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Neuvenge means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Neuvenge out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Neuvenge in simple terms?

Neuvenge, Lapuleucel-T (APC 8024), is a therapeutic cancer vaccine (TCV) in development (clinical trial) by Dendreon (DNDN). It uses the "immunotherapy platform approach" first successfully demonstrated on the U.S.

Why does Neuvenge matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Neuvenge?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Neuvenge.