ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apr 2, 2019–Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. will present late-breaking preclinical data which shows that its’ investigational nucleic acid platform, UNITE, may enhance antitumor immunity when used in connection with its investigational DNA vaccine, ITI-7000. In preclinical studies, ITI-7000, an investigational DNA vaccine targeting ErbB2/HER2, demonstrated robust activation of known anti-tumor CD4 and CD8 cells in vivo and promoted tumor infiltration with activated CD8 T cells. These data will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2019 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
“There’s no doubt that DNA vaccines are attractive immunotherapies to treat cancer and infectious diseases. However, research in this field has been met with many challenges, one of the most complex being low levels of immunogenicity and the inability to provoke an immune response and demonstrate favorable clinical outcomes,” said Teri Heiland, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Immunomic Therapeutics. “These late-breaking data at AACR suggest that our proprietary UNITE platform has the potential to enhance the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines by activating T cell responses and increasing tumor infiltration. We are highly encouraged by this data and look forward to continuing to advance ITI-7000 toward the clinic.”
In addition to observing activation of known anti-tumor CD4 and CD8 cells in vivo, Immunomic scientists observed the overexpression of PDL1 in the tumor microenvironment. This pathway has shown clinical relevance as a cancer immunotherapy target of the tumor microenvironment. PDL1 overexpression upregulated by ITI-7000 suggests that a combination of ITI-7000 with an anti-PD1/PDL1 therapy may increase the therapeutic potential of either agent on its own. This data also supports the prevailing belief in the immunotherapy community that cancer vaccination could synergize with anti PD1 and PDL1 and other immunotherapies, as well as support the viability of the UNITE platform as a means to do so. In summary, these findings support the potential of ITI-7000 as a cancer vaccine and highlight that UNITE, Immunomic’s nucleic acid platform, may have the potential to enhance immunity of investigational cancer therapies.
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