ONCS to Present at Three Conferences in Nov

I think we can expect another PR on Monday as it looks like ONCS is presenting at a big conference in Zurich early this week. Not sure why they didn't PR this with the other conferences on the November agenda list. They must have just decided to be there. Credit to moneypennyoncs at iHub for finding this. Here is post:

Guess what I found. Pretty sure we are going to get a good PR Monday. ONCS is presenting at Melanoma Congress in Zurich (November 13-16) and have a published abstract already published in the "Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research" Journal. Heller is the lead author. Yes, I am a Ninja!!!!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pcmr.12317/full

"Delivery of plasmid encoding IL-12 by electrotransfer for effective immunotherapy
R. Heller1, R. Pierce2, T. Takamura2, C. Lundberg1, N. Burcus1, T. Diep2, A. Daud3, S. Shirley1

1Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA2OncoSec Medical Corp, San Diego, CA, USA3University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

Gene electrotransfer (GET) of a plasmid encoding interleukin-12 (pIL-12) to tumors has been shown to generate a local and systemic anti-tumor effect in both preclinical and clinical studies. Interestingly, the delivery parameters directly influence the nature of the immune response against melanoma tumors. To obtain the appropriate immune stimulation it is critical to achieve the appropriate balance between transgene expression and tissue damage. In this study, we have evaluated various electrotransfer parameters and how the expression patterns effected long-term disease free survival. Plasmid DNA was injected into established B16.F10 melanoma tumors of C57BL/6 mice and electric pulses applied three times over a 1 week period. While a response was seen in all tumors treated with GET pIL-12 irrespective of parameters used, disease free long-term survival and protection following subsequent challenge was directly related to expression levels and kinetics of the delivered transgene. Mice resistant to challenge were found to have a higher level of memory T-cells and effector cells. Although delivery with GET parameters of 1300 V/cm 100 microsecond pulse width resulted in moderate to low expression levels, these conditions induced the highest level of protection. These results indicate the appropriate levels of cytokine expression in tumors delivered by electrotransfer necessary for generating local and systemic anti-tumor response that correspond with a more successful outcome. Additional studies have evaluated response and immune stimulation in a multi tumor mouse model. Evaluation of potentially combining this approach with other therapies to enhance the distant response is ongoing. The results from these preclinical studies combined with results from clinical studies utilizing GET of pIL-12 have the potential to improve electrotransfer-based therapies for melanoma patients"