VIENNA, Va., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CEL-SCI CORPORATION announces that Daniel H. Zimmerman, Ph.D., Senior Vice President Research, Cellular Immunology at CEL-SCI Corporation, is presiding as the Conference Chairman at the Third Annual International Conference on Vaccines entitled “Vaccines; All Things Considered.” Dr. Zimmerman, who opened the two day conference in Arlington, VA this morning, will lead panel discussions with representatives from major pharmaceutical companies on “The Future of Vaccines.” This conference brings together a prestigious group of scientists from academia, biotech, large pharmaceutical companies and the FDA.
Dr. Zimmerman will also present “In Search of the Holy Grail: Vaccines for Autoimmune Conditions” in which he will discuss CEL-SCI’s promising work with its L.E.A.P.S. (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) technology at Johns Hopkins University and other places. He will also provide an update on background information of mechanism of action and the types of cells involved, as well as future directions of the L.E.A.P.S. technology for treatment of several autoimmune conditions.
Another presentation at this conference involves CEL-SCI’s work with scientists from the laboratory of Dr. Noel Rose at The Johns Hopkins University Department of Pathology, who will present animal data showing that pretreatment and early therapy of Experimental Autoimmune Myocarditis with a compound developed by CEL-SCI resulted in significant reduction in heart enlargement and disease associated histopathological changes. This presentation by Dr. Daniela Cihakova from Dr. Rose’s group follows one by Dr. Rose last week at another conference “Vaccination, Infection and Autoimmunity: Myth and Reality-VIARM 2005" in Lausanne, Switzerland. The compound used to achieve these results was derived from CEL-SCI’s patented L.E.A.P.S. platform technology.
Yet another presentation on CEL-SCI’s L.E.A.P.S. vaccines will be given tomorrow morning by Ken Rosenthal, Ph.D., Professor Microbiology and Immunology, NEOUCOM. He will present data that shows protection against herpes simplex in animal models using the L.E.A.P.S. vaccines.
L.E.A.P.S. (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) is a novel T-cell modulation platform technology that enables CEL-SCI to design and synthesize proprietary immunogens. L.E.A.P.S. compounds (“constructs”) consist of a peptide epitope associated with a disease-causing agent linked to a T-cell binding peptide ligand (TCBL). Together they induce the immune system to mount either a cellular (e.g., T-cell), humoral (antibody) or a mixed immune response as a means to treat, control or prevent disease. Therefore, L.E.A.P.S. is thought to be a delivery vehicle that directs or controls the immune response to the desired outcome. This ability to preferentially direct the immune system is a major breakthrough. Any diseases for which antigenic epitope sequences have been identified, such as infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune diseases, allergic asthma and allergy, are potential candidates for this technology. More information on L.E.A.P.S. is available at http://www.cel-sci.com.
This work was supported in part by grants HL071352-01A1, HL67290, HL70729, AI51835 and HL077611 from National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
CEL-SCI Corporation is developing new immune system based treatments for cancer and infectious diseases. The Company has operations in Vienna, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland.
CEL-SCI Corporation
CONTACT: Gavin de Windt of CEL-SCI Corporation, +1-703-506-9460, orInvestor Relations: Michael Lucci, Jr. of Lucci Financial Group, LLC,+1-248-723-3330
Web site: http://www.cel-sci.com//
