On June 27, 2019 INmune Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: INMB), an immunotherapy company developing treatments that harness the patient’s innate immune system to fight disease, reported that the peer-reviewed open access scientific journal PLOS ONE published an article titled, "Tumor- and cytokine-primed human natural killer cells exhibit distinct phenotypic and transcriptional signatures," summarizing the different effects between NK cell activation in response to tumor cells and cytokine-mediated activation (Press release, INmune Bio, JUN 27, 2019, View Source [SID1234537326]).
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Co-authored by Dr. Mark Lowdell, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder at INmune Bio, the paper defines the response of natural killer (NK) cells following their encounters with tumor cells and provides insight into tumor-specific NK cell responses; helping the transition toward harnessing their therapeutic potential in cancer. The paper identifies a unique signaling "fingerprint" expressed by NK cells after binding to CTV-1 tumor cells, which is the parent clone of INmune Bio’s own INB16 cells.
Through these observational data, researchers are able to use that knowledge to apply the strategy to build immunotherapy treatments. Priming NK cells with controlled exposure to tumor cells – which is the mechanism of action of INKmune – in the patient is potentially more effective against cancer targets with potentially fewer side effects than the administration of cytokines such as IL-2 or IL-15.
"We are delighted to be sharing these data describing the unique molecular pathways triggered within human NK cells upon priming with INmune Bio’s own INB16 (INKmune) cell line," says Dr. Lowdell. "These data confirm that the primed NK cells generated by INB16 stimulation upregulate genes, which are crucial to NK-mediated killing of patients’ cancer cells, such as CD70 and CXCL10. These differences in gene expression may explain the greater cytotoxic activity of INB16 primed NK cells in vitro compared to cytokine primed cells which may lead to greater clinical efficacy."
"This work has combined expertise across many groups, and it was important to publish these data in a highly-regarded open access journal to ensure that they are available to the widest possible audience," concludes Dr. Lowdell.