Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU, OTC:IUGNF) and partner Estrella Biopharma, Inc, a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, have presented on Imugene’s onCARlytics (CF33-CD19) oncolytic virus in combination with Estrella’s CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS® T cells at the annual meeting for the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).
Dr Anthony Park, from Dr Saul Priceman’s laboratory at City of Hope, presented the poster: 'CF33-CD19t oncolytic virus (onCARlytics) targets hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and in combination with CD19- Redirected ARTEMIS® T cells, results in significant tumour killing' at the conference, held in Boston, USA, from November 8-12.
Highlights
Key findings presented were that:
- onCARlytics can target triple-negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-468 to express CD19t as a target for engineered T-Cells in an MOI-dependent manner.
- onCARlytics can target hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines HepG2 and Hep3B to express CD19t as a target for engineered T-Cells in an MOI-dependent manner.
- CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS T Cells in combination with onCARlytics demonstrated greater in vitro efficacy against MDA-MB-468, HepG2, and Hep3B tumour cell lines compared to onCARlytics alone.
- There is an increasing trend in ARTEMIS T-cell activation in an onCARlytics MOI-dependent manner.
- CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS T Cells demonstrated higher trend of IL-2 production and lower IFNγ production compared to COH CD19-CAR T Cells when co-cultured with onCARlytics.
- CD19t expression was detected in tumours following onCARlytics infection in vivo.
- CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS® T Cells and onCARlytics combination therapy efficacy will be tested in multiple in vivo models.
Imugene CEO/MD Leslie Chong said: “The goal of our collaboration with Estrella was to see if combining our onCARlytics technology with its CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS® T Cells could drive improved efficacy and safety, and the outcomes from this research to date are very positive on numerous fronts.
“It again validates our combination approach and paves the way to advance this program.”
"The data supports the potential benefit of the 'Mark-and-Kill' approach in addressing the lack of tumour-specific targets in treating solid tumours with T-cell therapies,” said Estrella Biopharma president Dr Cheng Liu.
"We look forward to continue working with Imugene to validate our combination approach as an effective treatment for cancer as quickly as possible.”
Estrella in-licensed the CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS T Cell technology from Eureka Therapeutics, Inc. in June 2022.