(Alliance News) - PureTech Health PLC on Tuesday presented a new preclinical data from its wholly-owned immuno-oncology programmes.
The clinical-stage biotechnology company reported continued progress in advancing two fully human monoclonal antibodies, developed to inhibit two foundational immunosuppressive orchestrators, galectin-9 and pathogenic gamma delta-1 T cells.
PureTech said the new data indicated that galectin-9 is not only a potent therapeutic target, but also a potentially relevant biomarker. Across multiple cohorts, galectin-9 was "significantly" increased in blood samples of individuals with primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer, lung tumours, and colorectal carcinoma, compared to healthy individuals.
"These findings validate the importance of galectin-9 in cancer biology and its potency as a target," said George Miller, a PureTech collaborator.
Looking ahead, PureTech said it experts to file an investigational new drug application for galectin-9 in the first half of 2020 and to initiate a phase 1a/1b clinical trial in solid tumours in 2020.
PureTech also presented data on its monoclonal antibody LYT-210 that targets gamma delta-1 T cells whose immunosuppressive features leads to a tumour permissive microenvironment.
The research showed that gamma delta-1 T cells were the most abundant T cell within the studied tumours, which included pancreatic, colorectal, cholangiocarcinoma, and liver cancer, and represented up to 50% of all infiltrating T cells.
In addition, PureTech presented data showing that LYT-210 depletes immunosuppressive gamma delta-1 T cells through cytotoxicity and phagocytosis.
"These data show that gamma delta-1 cells play a key role in suppressing the immune system's ability to attack tumours. LYT-210 is designed to remove and destroy pathogenic gamma delta-1 T cells enabling immune mediated cancer attack. We therefore believe LYT-210 holds significant promise as a potential immunotherapy," said Miller.
PureTech shares were trading 0.4% lower on Tuesday in London at 248.00 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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