On April 24, 2024 GV20 Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company integrating AI, genomics, and cancer biology to create next-generation antibody therapeutics, reported the publication of a peer-reviewed article titled, "IGSF8 is an innate immune checkpoint and cancer immunotherapy target" in the journal Cell (Press release, GV20 Therapeutics, APR 24, 2024, View Source [SID1234642314]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
Antigen presentation defects in tumors are prevalent mechanisms of adaptive immune evasion and resistance to cancer immunotherapy, whereas how tumors evade innate immunity is less clear. In this study, the authors discovered that tumors with antigen presentation defects over express IGSF8 which interacts with NK receptors to suppress NK cell cytotoxicity. A monoclonal antibody against IGSF8 increases NK cell killing of cancer cells in vitro. In multiple syngenetic tumor models, anti-IGSF8 alone or in combination with anti-PD1 potently inhibit tumor growth in vivo. These results support IGSF8 as a novel innate immune checkpoint that could be exploited as a therapeutic target, and led to the nomination of GV20’s lead program, GV20-0251.
"This publication in Cell builds on our recent oral presentation at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2024 outlining the immune function of IGSF8 and the advancement of GV20-0251 into combination studies with KEYTRUDA under our clinical collaboration with Merck," said Shirley Liu, CEO of GV20 Therapeutics. "The ongoing GV20-0251 Phase 1 study is advancing well, and we are pleased with the clinical profile seen thus far. We look forward to advancing GV20-0251 into monotherapy cohort expansion and combination studies later this year."