Rakuten Medical, Inc., a global biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell-targeting therapies based on its proprietary Alluminox™ platform, today announces that the research results of the preclinical studies for PD-L1-targeted photoimmunotherapy were presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association (JCA2024) in Fukuoka, Japan on September 20, 2024 (JST).
The key findings presented at JCA2024
Abstract Title: PD-L1 photoimmunotherapy kills immunosuppressive myeloid cells to activate local and systemic antitumor immunity
Presenter: Amy H. Thorne, Ph.D. (Rakuten Medical, Inc.)
Abstract Number: 30050
It has been observed in in vitro studies that this photoimmunotherapy has a dual mechanism of action (MoA): depletion of PD-L1 expressing tumor cells and depletion of PD-L1 expressing immunosuppressive cells such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). In addition to this dual MoA, the potential for systemic immune checkpoint inhibition was also observed.
It has been observed in in vivo studies that the treatment resulted in more effective tumor growth suppression compared to anti-PD-L1 antibody alone in an anti-PD-L1 sensitive mouse tumor model and tumor growth suppression compared to saline control in an anti-PD-L1 resistant mouse tumor model.
It has been observed in in vivo studies that the treatment affects the tumor microenvironment balance by depleting immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment cells and maintains checkpoint inhibition to enhance CD8+ T cell activation.
RM-0256 was well-tolerated in a GLP toxicity study in which the drug was administered repeatedly to cynomolgus monkeys.
