On May 29, 2025 Diakonos Oncology Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new generation of immunotherapies to treat challenging and aggressive cancers, reported that it will present new clinical data at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, taking place in Chicago, IL (Press release, Diakonos Oncology, MAY 29, 2025, View Source [SID1234653495]). The presentation, titled "Vaccination by homologous antigenic loading with DOC1021 as adjuvant therapy for glioblastoma: Phase I clinical trial results," will highlight findings from the company’s Phase I trial of Dubodencel (DOC1021), a double-loaded dendritic cell therapy being evaluated for the treatment of glioblastoma, a highly aggressive brain tumor with a median overall survival of 14-18 months despite standard care. The study, recently completed, offers hope for improving outcomes in this devastating disease.
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"We will present the latest results in the evaluation of Dubodencel’s potential to enhance immune responses against glioblastoma, even in patients with poor prognostic factors," said Jay Hartenbach, President and COO of Diakonos Oncology. "Our approach focuses on leveraging the immune stimulating potential of dendritic cells, which play a crucial role in the adaptive immune response and can be exploited to provoke an intense and specific response to a patient’s tumor."
Presentation Details
Title: Vaccination by homologous antigenic loading with DOC1021 as adjuvant therapy for glioblastoma: Phase I clinical trial results
Authors: Joseph Georges, Christina Clay, Sabina Amin, Joseph Ifrach, Briana Burns, Akshar Trivedi, Wei Liu, Madhuri Namekar, Keenan Ernste, Vinod Ravi, Sigmund Hsu, Jay-Jiguang Zhu, Rodrick Zvavanjanja, Yoshua Esquenazi, Nitin Tandon, Alan Turtz, Laura Aguilar, Vanaja Konduri, William Decker
Abstract Number: 2014
Session Type: Rapid Oral Abstract Session
Session Title: Central Nervous System Tumors
Track: Central Nervous System Tumors
Sub Track: Primary CNS Tumors–Glioma
Session Date and Time: May 31, 2025, 3:00 PM-4:30 PM CDT
Location: Room S102, McCormick Place
About Dubodencel
Dubodencel, also known as DOC1021, is a first-in-class, double-loaded autologous dendritic cell therapy that uniquely combines tumor lysate and amplified tumor-derived mRNA. The immunotherapy is made with a patient’s dendritic cells combined with mRNA and proteins prepared from freshly obtained patient tumor specimens.
The unique double loading approach, which mimics a viral infection, unlocks a synergistic and exponentially more powerful tumor killing TH1 response driven by dual protein and RNA antigen sourcing, and it allows targeting of the complete cancer antigen pool. Moreover, the approach does not require any molecular modification of the patient’s immune cells for manufacturing, and does not require preconditioning of bone marrow or high dose IL-2 for administration. Dubodencel allows for a simple administration in the outpatient setting and broad reach via community cancer centers.
In addition to the recently opened Phase 2 GBM study, a clinical trial of Diakonos’ dubodencel is ongoing for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Diakonos has received Fast Track designations from the FDA for both the GBM and pancreatic cancer programs, in October 2023 and May 2024, respectively. The company has also received Orphan Drug Designation for the GBM program in January 2024.