Tag Archives: Treg

Anti-GARP: Combatting Treg Cells and TGF-β in the Tumor Microenvironment

AbbVie has recently licensed rights to a monoclonal antibody discovered by Argenx, ARGX-115, paying $20MM up-front and up to $625MM in milestones based on development, approval, and commercial performance. This monoclonal antibody targets a central player in the complex tumor microenvironment – the regulatory T-cell (Treg). Continue reading

Ubiquitin specific protease 7 – a good target for cancer therapy

Ubiquitin specific protease 7 (USP7) is a deubiquitinase, an enzyme that removes ubiquitin a 76 amino acid protein that is added onto lysines in the target protein. Proteins that are mono, or poly (up to 10 residues), ubiquitinated are taken to the proteasome for destruction. Continue reading

The levels of immune cells within ovarian cancer tumors correlate with survival

Researches with the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analyses Consortium analyzed the CD8+ (cytotoxic T-cell) content of tumors from 5,500 patients and compared them with clinical outcome. The analysis was large enough to allow for comparison by histologic subtype – endometrioid, clear cell, mucinous, and low-grade serous ovarian cancer, as well as high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Included in the sample were 3,200 high grade serous ovarian cancers. Continue reading

Priming cancer for immunotherapy

Augmenting the responses to checkpoint inhibitors, which remove the “breaks” from the immune response, is a very popular area of research. The general concept is to turn immunologically cold tumors hot. For example, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered an immunologically cold tumor – anti-PD(L)1 therapy has shown responses of just 5-10%. Continue reading

New Link’s Indoximod + Keytruda looks promising in Phase 2 advanced melanoma

Indoximod + Keytruda looks promising in Phase 2 advanced melanoma

IDO (indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase) is an intracellular enzyme found in antigen presenting cells that mediates immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment. Continue reading

Neo-antigen vaccines extend progression-free survival in melanoma

Two companies – Biontech, RNA vaccine and Neon Therapeutics, peptide vaccine – reported very positive results of neo-antigen vaccines in patients with refractory metastatic melanoma. Continue reading

Photo-immunotherapy approaches for cancer

The NCI (National Cancer Institute) highlighted two photo-immunotherapy (PIT) approaches that employ antibodies conjugated to phthalocyanine dye IRDye 700DX (IR700). Continue reading

Surprising Efficacy of Darzalex is not Solely Due to Anti-CD38 Activity on Myeloma Cells

We have previously reviewed anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody Darzalex (daratumumab) in multiple myeloma. Daratumumab targets CD38-expressing myeloma cells through a variety of immune-mediated mechanisms (complement-dependent cytotoxicity, antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis) and direct apoptosis with cross-linking of receptors. Continue reading

Cell-based Immunotherapies in the News

Baxalta, the biopharmaceutical spinoff of Baxter, entered into a $1.7 B deal with Precision BioSceinces for 6 CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) projects, and Saronic Biotechnology announced positive data in preclinical studies of its autologous dendritic cell vaccine for hepatocellular carcinoma. Continue reading

Immatics and MD Anderson Collaborate on IL-21 for Cancer Immunotherapy

Immatics, a German biotechnology company has established a subsidiary in Houston, TX to collaborate with MD Anderson on overcoming some of the limitations to the adoptive T cell therapies now in the immuno-oncology pipeline. The collaboration covers the use of cytokine IL-21 to expand high-quality T cell batches, particularly those generated by CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) and related approaches. Continue reading