Prof Bart Vandekerckhove, head of the GMP unit ‘CellGENTherapies’ of Ugent and UZ Gent, has received an important grant of €790K from ‘the Stichting Tegen Kanker (STK)’ and ‘Kom op tegen Kanker (KOTK)’, both Belgians associations funding research to improve cancer outcome. The grant will be used to setup a Phase I clinical trial of Galsome-NEO, a personalized neo-antigen targeted mRNA vaccine in patiens with advanced unresectable PD-L1 negative non-small cell lung cancer. The Galsome-NEO trial is executed in collaboration with Ghent Research Group on Nanomedicines (Prof Stefaan De Smedt and Dr Ine L. Lentacker), Center for Medical Genetics (prof Björn Menten) and de Department of Lung Diseases (prof Karim Vermaelen, prof Dieter Stevens).

Galsome-NEO is a lipid nanoparticle cancer vaccine that protects against cancer outgrowth in laboratory animals by activating the immune system towards specific properties of the cancer cells. In this clinical trial, we will study the value of this cancer vaccin in lung cancer patients in whom current therapy is limited and failed.

Prof Bart Vandekerckhove, Dir CellGENTherapies
Research profile for Bart Vandekerckhove – CRIG profile