Programs & Technology
The promise of cancer immunotherapy
Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) A pioneer in hematology and chemotherapy, and joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1908, Ehrlich postulated as early as 1909 that the immune system is able to recognize and protect against cancer.
Cancer immunotherapy seeks to harness the power and exquisite sensitivity of the immune system to destroy malignant cells in a targeted and selective manner that avoids the toxicities commonly associated with traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy and radiation-based treatment. Although the idea of stimulating the immune system to attack cancer is more than 100 years old, recent conceptual and technical developments have brought new promise to the field, based on a much deeper understanding of the cellular and molecular interplay between the immune system and cancer.
Targeting tumor tolerance and immune escape
Fulfilling the promise of immunotherapy will depend in significant part on successfully meeting a key challenge. While it is now generally acknowledged that the activated immune system is capable of eradicating tumors, we also know that potent immunosuppressive mechanisms generated by the tumor itself subvert and suppress anti-tumor immune responses, leading to a state of immunological tolerance (aptly referred to as “immune escape”) and progressive disease. Historically, cancer immunotherapy has aimed at stimulating responses by immune effector cells, such as killer T cells. Optimal strategies, however, should address both sides of the immune system-tumor interplay. Immunostimulation using targeted molecular and cellular agents may be complemented by therapies that block or otherwise counteract the immunosuppressive effects of the tumor.
Complementary strategies
At NewLink we are developing two novel immunotherapeutic approaches for cancer treatment, which hold potential to synergistically address both immunostimulation and tumor immune tolerance and escape. Our HyperAcute® immunotherapies consist of human tumor cell lines that have been genetically modified to add α(1,3)-Galactosyl (α-Gal) residues to their cell-surface lipids and proteins, including tumor-specific antigens. These highly novel product candidates are designed to elicit a rapid and potent anti-tumor immune response, break tolerance, and enable longer duration of anti-tumor effect.We are also conducting small-molecule based research in pursuit of new drugs capable of breaking the immune system’s tolerance to cancer through inhibition of the indoleamine-(2,3)-dioxygenase, or IDO, pathway.
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