On February 3, 2025 Purple Biotech Ltd. ("Purple Biotech" or "the Company") (NASDAQ/TASE: PPBT), a clinical-stage company developing first-in-class therapies that overcome tumor immune evasion and drug resistance, reported that it has entered into a Research Collaboration Agreement with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ("Icahn School of Medicine") in New York, NY, to explore the immunoregulation of NK and T cells within the TME by Purple’s CAPTN-3 multi-specific engagers with the purpose of enhancing tumor-specific immunity against various cancer types (Press release, Purple Biotech, FEB 3, 2025, View Source [SID1234650000]).
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"Partnering on this important preclinical work with the Marc and Jennifer Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute and The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine is expected to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms of action for our innovative tri-specific platform in preparation for human clinical studies," said Gil Efron, Purple Biotech CEO. "We have recently observed a growing interest in multi-specific engagers, and we look forward to advancing CAPTN-3 development as we prepare for first-in-human clinical studies."
The Principal Investigator of the study is Amir Horowitz, PhD, Associate Professor of Immunology & Immunotherapy and Oncological Sciences and a member of the Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute and The Tisch Cancer Institute. Dr. Horowitz, an expert in the immunoregulation of the TME in cancer patients, has demonstrated a novel immunotherapeutic target axis involving the interaction between HLA-E expressing tumor cells and NKG2A-positive NK and CD8 T cells, which suppresses immune responses in treatment-resistant patients. He and others have shown the HLA-E/NKG2A axis to be a dominant inhibitory checkpoint pathway in solid tumors.
Dr. Horowitz commented, "CAPTN-3’s dual potential mechanisms of action appear to be a promising indicator of the platform’s potential safety and efficacy to treat cancer through its synergistic regulation of both T cells and NK cells at the tumor microenvironment. In this collaboration, we plan to map how CAPTN-3 antibodies alter T and NK cell activation within the TME, specifically focusing on the modulation of HLA-E/NKG2A interactions and enhancing features of innate immunity."
"The opportunity to deepen our understanding of the tumor immune evasion mechanisms that CAPTN-3 uniquely addresses is exciting, and we hope it will pave the way for effective treatments for many challenging tumor indications. We are looking forward to working with Dr. Horowitz and his team at Mount Sinai to validate the unique aspects of CAPTN-3 design in a wide screen of patient-derived tumors, potentially bringing new insights for overcoming resistance to standard frontline immunotherapies," stated Purple Biotech’s VP Research and Development, Dr. Hadas Reuveni.