One of the most important features in GVAX is its universality. The concept behind GVAX is applicable to numerous cancer types, since theoretically, any type of cancer cell can be genetically modified to secrete GM-CSF, making it a potential cancer vaccine. For example, in order to create GVAX for pancreatic cancer, Cell Genesys chose a pancreatic cancer cell-line, inserted the GM-CSF gene into the cells, irradiated them and the vaccine was ready. For the treatment of leukemia, the company did the same with leukemia cells and so on. However, each type of cancer includes so many types of available cell-lines, that choosing the right cell-line is of extremely high importance. Furthermore, since it is possible to combine more than one cell-line per vaccine, GVAX’s diversity potential, as a platform, is tremendous.
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