On July 23, 2025 Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:XBIO) ("Xenetic" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing innovative immuno-oncology technologies addressing hard to treat oncology indications, reported it has continued its collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute ("TSRI") to advance the development of the Company’s development program evaluating the combination of systemic DNase I and CAR T-cell therapies (Press release, Xenetic Biosciences, JUL 23, 2025, https://ir.xeneticbio.com/news/detail/168/xenetic-biosciences-inc-expands-research-and-development-collaboration-with-the-scripps-research-institute-to-advance-dnase-platform [SID1234654486]).
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Xenetic’s systemic DNase I candidate, XBIO-015, is currently in preclinical development in combination with CAR-T cell therapy for both hematologic and solid tumors. Studies conducted at TSRI using lymphoma and metastatic melanoma models have shown that co-administration of DNase I with CAR-T cells significantly reduces tumor burden, decreases metastatic lesions, and markedly extends survival compared to CAR-T cell monotherapy. Importantly, systemic DNase I-mediated degrading of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) enhances CAR-T cell efficacy increasing the infiltration of both CAR-T cells and endogenous T cells into tumors and by mitigating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Based on these promising results, the research program has been expanded to include additional models of lymphoma and leukemia to further validate these findings.
"We are pleased to further expand our collaboration with Scripps Research and explore the full potential of our DNase-based oncology platform. The data generated to date continues to be encouraging and we believe provides a compelling rationale for incorporating DNase I as an adjunctive treatment to improve therapeutic responses in patients undergoing CAR-T cell therapy. We are grateful for the Scripps Research team and look forward to continuing to leverage their knowledge and expertise," commented James Parslow, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Xenetic.
Xenetic’s DNase-based oncology platform is designed to target NETs, which are weblike structures composed of extracellular chromatin coated with histones and other proteins. In cancer, NETs are expelled by activated neutrophils into the TME and blood, thereby promoting cancer spread and local and systemic immunosuppression. Reduction of NETs burden via application of Xenetic’s proprietary recombinant human DNase I has been shown to improve efficacy of immunotherapy, adoptive cell therapy and chemotherapy in preclinical animal models.
Xenetic continues to advance its DNase-based technology towards Phase 1 clinical development for the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma and other locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors.