B7H3 is a pan-cancer antigen considered a promising target for immunotherapy. However, targeting B7H3 using bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) presents the problem of systemic toxicity.
Cathepsin G (CTSG) is overexpressed and aberrantly localized for antigen presentation on acute myeloid leukemia blasts and stem cells compared to normal hematopoietic progenitors. Earlier this year, Crossbow Therapeutics Inc. announced the nomination of its first development candidate, CBX-250, a TCR-mimetic (TCRm) bispecific T-cell engager (TCE) antibody targeting a CTSG peptide-human leukocyte antigen (pHLA) complex and CD3.
The lack of acute myeloid leukemia-specific antigens is one of the challenges for targeted immunotherapy together with on-target off-tumor toxicities due to the expression of the target in normal myeloid cells. A subset of T cells – Vδ2 T-cells – which represent ~5% of the T-cell population in healthy donors, are seen as part of emerging immunotherapeutic strategies.
Claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2) is a member of the claudin family and is overexpressed in gastric, gastroesophageal junction and pancreatic cancer, among others. Researchers from Elevation Oncology Inc. recently presented preclinical efficacy data on the combination of EO-3021, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting CLDN18.2, with VEGFR-2 or PD-1 inhibitors in models of gastric adenocarcinoma.
Cancer and autoimmunity are “often thought of as being at opposite ends of the immune response,” Ana Anderson told her audience at a joint meeting of the NIH’s Office of Autoimmune Disease Research and Office of Research in Women’s Health earlier this month. Cancer, that line of reasoning goes, arises when the immune system is not good enough at recognizing harmful autoantigens. Autoimmunity arises when it is hypervigilant, mistaking harmless autoantigens for problematic ones and going on the attack.
Elevation Oncology Inc. has nominated EO-1022 as its HER3 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) development candidate for the treatment of solid tumors that express HER3.
To address the existing challenges with CAR T-cell therapy, scientists at Umoja Biopharma Inc. developed the Vivovec platform, which is an off-the-shelf surface-engineered lentiviral vector (LVV) drug product designed to generate CAR T cells in vivo without lymphodepletion by selectively binding, activating and transducing T cells.
Previous research suggested that gram-negative bacteria may hold potential for cancer immunotherapy because they contain agonists for multiple immune receptors.
Cancervax Inc. has selected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) as one of its first targets for preclinical development using its novel universal cancer treatment (UCT) platform.
Polypid Ltd. has entered into a new research and development collaboration with Immunogenesis Inc. for the development of novel formulations utilizing Polypid’s proprietary PLEX (Polymer-Lipid Encapsulation matriX) technology and Immunogenesis’ potent STING agonist drug candidate to potentially enhance treatment for solid tumors.
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