- Data showed Amphiphile (AMP) boosting significantly enhanced TCR-T cell anti-tumor efficacy and led to durable responses against solid tumors in an established, syngeneic tumor model
- AMP boosting of CD19-specific CAR-T cells led to enhanced CAR-T activation and effector function suggesting the platform can potentially be utilized to improve clinical CD19 CAR-T cell therapies by boosting multiple axes of overall CAR-T fitness
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Elicio Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, today announced two ePoster presentations of preclinical data on its Amphiphile (AMP) platform in combination with TCR-T and CAR-T therapies, respectively, at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting taking place in Washington D.C. and virtually November 10-14, 2021. The ePosters are available on the SITC website starting November 12, 2021, at 7 a.m. ET., and accessible here.
“These preclinical datasets demonstrate the broad potential of our AMP platform and build on previous data validating our AMP boosting approach to enhance already established TCR-T and CAR-T cell therapies. By successfully targeting the lymph nodes, AMP-boosting can enhance both adoptively transferred and endogenous T cell responses to activate potent, functional and durable immunity against tumors,” said Peter DeMuth, Ph.D., Vice President of Research at Elicio Therapeutics. “We are excited to continue building on these data to enable clinical translation including through our collaboration with the Moffitt Cancer Center, where we are evaluating AMP-boosting of CD19 CAR-T therapies to promote durable CAR-T responses to tumors. With many patients failing to enter remission with CAR-T therapy alone or relapsing due to poor CAR-T persistence, this could be the boost that immunotherapy needs.”
Data Presentation Details:
Title: Lymph Node Targeted Boosting with Cognate Amphiphile-Peptide Vaccines Enhances TCR-T Cell Therapy to Eradicate Solid Tumors
Abstract Number: 157
- AMP boosting significantly enhanced TCR-T cell anti-tumor response and led to durable cures of solid tumors in an established, syngeneic tumor model.
- AMP boosting delivers cognate peptides and adjuvant to lymph nodes, which induces dendritic cell (DC) activation and provides in vivo activation of tumor-specific TCR-T cells to amplify anti-tumor potency of adoptively transferred cells.
- AMP-peptide pulsed autologous human DCs enhanced the function of clinically relevant human KRAS-specific TCR-T cells in vitro.
- These studies provide direct rationale and evidence for the combination of AMP boosting with TCR-T cell therapies to augment clinical responses.
Title: Amphiphile-Peptide Boosting with FMC63-binding Surrogate Peptide Mimotopes Induces Activation and Potent Effector Function in CAR-T Cells Targeting CD19
Abstract Number: 552
- The AMP platform can potentially be utilized as a mechanism to expand and functionally enhance CAR-T cells in vivo targeting blood and solid tumors.
- AMP-peptides (AMPlifiers) effectively accumulate in lymph nodes and decorate lymph node resident antigen-presenting cells (APCs) as well as boost CAR-T activation and expansion in vivo.
- Phage display screening enables AMPlifier discovery and validation for CAR scFv domains such as FMC63, the CD19 specific domain used in marketed CD19 CAR-T products.
- In vitro, CD19 AMPlifiers induce phenotypic activation, cytotoxic and effector function in cognate CD19 CAR-T cells with 28z or BBz signaling domains.
About the Amphiphile Platform
Our proprietary Amphiphile, or AMP, platform delivers investigational immunotherapeutics directly to the “brain center” of the immune system – the lymph nodes. We believe this site-specific delivery of disease-specific antigens, adjuvants, and other immunomodulators may efficiently educate, activate, and amplify critical immune cells, potentially resulting in induction and persistence of potent adaptive immunity required to treat many diseases. In preclinical models, we have observed lymph-node specific engagement driving therapeutic immune responses of increased magnitude, function, and durability. We believe our AMP lymph node targeted approach will produce superior clinical benefits compared to immunotherapies that do not engage the lymph nodes.
Our AMP platform, originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, has broad potential across cancers, infectious diseases and other disease indications to advance a number of development initiatives through internal activities, in-licensing arrangements or development collaborations and partnerships.
The Amphiphile platform is thought to deliver immunotherapeutics directly to the lymph nodes by latching on to the protein albumin, found in the bloodstream, as it travels to lymphatic tissue. In preclinical models, we have observed lymph-node specific engagement driving therapeutic immune responses of increased magnitude, function, and durability.
About Elicio Therapeutics
Elicio Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. By combining expertise in immunology and immunotherapy, Elicio is engineering investigational Amphiphile immunotherapies that are intended to precisely target and fully engage the lymph nodes, the site in our bodies where the immune response is orchestrated. Elicio is engineering lymph node targeted AMPlifiers, immunomodulators, adjuvants and vaccines for an array of aggressive cancers and infectious diseases. Through its partnership with Moffitt Cancer Center, Elicio is exploring ways to improve CAR-T cell therapies for patients with hematological cancers with the addition of CAR-T AMPlifiers that actively engage the lymph nodes.
Elicio began dosing subjects in AMPLIFY-201, its Phase 1/2 clinical trial in solid tumor subjects for its lead Amphiphile vaccine, ELI-002, targeting KRAS-driven cancers in the third quarter of 2021. The Amphiphile platform emerged from the laboratories of Darrell Irvine, Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. For more information, please visit https://elicio.com/.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from historical results or any future results, performance or achievements expressed, suggested or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our plans with respect to our Phase 1/2 Dose-Escalation Study of ELI-002 (AMPLIFY-201), the ability of ELI-002 to target all seven common KRAS mutations, including G12C, the ability of our proprietary AMP platform to deliver ELI-002 directly to the lymph nodes and our belief that it may stimulate an enhanced immune response, the timing of the availability of initial safety, dose escalation, and correlative biomarker data from the Phase 1 portion of AMPLIFY-201, and the general ability and potential of our proprietary Amphiphile, or AMP, platform, to deliver investigational immunotherapeutics directly to the lymph nodes. Applicable risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from historical results or any future results, performance or achievements expressed, suggested or implied by our forward-looking statements include, among others: the potential that we experience slower than expected enrollment in our clinical trials, we identify serious side effects or other safety issues, we do not have clinical supply of our product candidate that is adequate in amount and quality and supplied in a timely fashion, and the inherent risks of clinical development; our limited operating history and historical losses; our need to raise capital to fund our research and development programs; the early stage nature of the development of our product candidates; our ability to obtain orphan drug designation from the FDA; competition from various competitors in the markets targeted by our product candidates, including from competitors with substantially greater resources than us; our general dependence on third parties in connection with manufacturing, clinical trials and preclinical studies; the potential complexity of the manufacturing process for our product candidates; our ability to protect our intellectual property; our dependence on the patents we license from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT; our compliance with healthcare laws and regulations; and risks relating to the impact on of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases on our business. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect our current views with respect to future events, and we do not undertake and specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
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+1 646-970-4688
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