X4 Pharmaceuticals Presents Clinical Data Demonstrating Single Agent X4P-001-IO Enhances Tumor Immunity

On April 16, 2018 X4 Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing novel CXCR4 inhibitor drugs to improve immune cell trafficking to treat cancer and rare diseases, reported data from a presentation at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting (Press release, X4 Pharmaceuticals, APR 16, 2018, View Source [SID1234525412]) The data, generated from serial tumor biopsies and blood draws taken from melanoma patients, demonstrated dramatic infiltration and activation of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and increased inflammatory status in the tumor microenvironment (TME) following once-daily oral administration of X4P-001-IO. X4P-001-IO is an investigational CXCR4 allosteric antagonist. Findings highlight single agent X4P-001-IO has the ability to help restore immunity within the TME and has the potential to enhance the anti-tumor activity of agents such as checkpoint inhibitors.

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Results from the tumor biopsies taken from melanoma patients before and after receiving single agent X4P-001-IO treatment for 3 weeks, were analyzed and presented. Single agent X4P-001-IO showed evidence of enhanced immune cell infiltration and activation in the tumor microenvironment, including:

Increases in proliferating CD8+ cells, indicative of cytotoxic T cell activation,
Increases in Granzyme B, a marker of immune-mediated cell killing,
Decreases in distance between CD8+ T cells and the nearest tumor cells, indicative of increased CD8+ T cell infiltration,
Increases in antigen presentation/processing gene expression, suggesting enhanced antigen priming and activation, and
Increases in the Tumor Inflammation Signature (TIS), indicative of increased inflammation status in the TME.
After single agent X4P-001-IO treatment, patients received X4P-001-IO in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for an additional 6 weeks. Continued signs of positive immune cell changes in the tumor microenvironment were seen. The combination of X4P-001-IO alone and in combination with Keytruda was well tolerated.

"These results demonstrate that CXCR4 inhibition substantially alters the tumor microenvironment in a way that is consistent with the emerging understanding of tumor immunity and inflammatory response," said Robert Andtbacka, MD, CM, a surgeon and investigator with the Huntsman Cancer Institute of the University of Utah, Associate Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and Principle Investigator of the X4P-001-IO study in melanoma.

In a separate poster presentation, preclinical findings showed that CXCR4 inhibition increases CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment and has potent anti-tumor activity in the syngenic B16-OVA murine melanoma model. The anti-tumor activities were associated with the increase in immunostimulatory CD8+/Perforin+ cells and the reduction of immunosuppressive myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and Treg populations in the tumor microenvironment.

"Results from these posters demonstrate the unique mechanism of X4P-001-IO, as it impacts critical aspects of immune cell trafficking, infiltration and activation – playing a positive role in tumor immunity," said Sudha Parasuraman, MD, X4’s Chief Medical Officer. "These data, together with X4P-001-IO’s favorable safety and tolerability profile, support the potential for X4P-001-IO to improve outcomes for patients with tumors that are less responsive to checkpoint inhibitors."

The posters were presented in the Immune Response to Therapy Session at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, taking place April 14-18, 2018 in Chicago, IL.

About X4P-001-IO in Cancer

X4P-001-IO is an investigational selective, oral, small molecule inhibitor of CXCR4 (C-X-C receptor type 4) that regulates the tumor microenvironment thereby enhancing endogenous anti-tumor responses. CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor that modulates immune function and angiogenesis through the trafficking of key immune cells such as T- cells, dendritic cells, and myeloid derived suppressor cells. CXCR4 signaling is disrupted in a broad range of cancers, facilitating tumor growth by allowing cancer cells to evade immune detection and creating a pro-tumor microenvironment. X4P-001-IO is being investigated in three separate clinical studies in solid tumors.

Adaptimmune Presents MAGE-A4 and MAGE-A10 pre-clinical data at American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting

On April 16, 2018 Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq:ADAP), a leader in T-cell therapy to treat cancer, reported that it presented two posters summarizing preclinical research with its MAGE-A4 and MAGE-A10 SPEAR T-cells at the annual AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) meeting at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois (Press release, Adaptimmune, APR 16, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2342743 [SID1234525326]).

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The MAGE-A4 poster presented the discovery process and extensive preclinical validation work performed by Adaptimmune to characterize the specificity, affinity, and potency of MAGE-A4 SPEAR T-cells. The T-cell receptor (TCR) engineered to target MAGE-A4 was found to be specific for MAGE-A4 with an appropriate affinity and avidity, and there were no safety concerns identified preclinically. Further, the examination of more than 500 non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor samples stained by MD Anderson Cancer Center scientists through its strategic collaboration with Adaptimmune revealed that the MAGE-A4 antigen is expressed in approximately 51% of squamous cell carcinomas of the lung, 8% of adenocarcinomas, and in 24% of all NSCLC cases. In addition, numerous other tumors express MAGE-A4 at variable levels. Details about the selection and affinity enhancement of MAGE-A10 SPEAR T‑cells were also presented. The refined methods used to test this SPEAR T-cell candidate are expected to further mitigate risk of unexpected off-target toxicities.

"Our proprietary preclinical development and validation program for our SPEAR T-cells, developed over more than 10 years, enables us to generate TCRs that have the right level of specificity, affinity, and overall avidity for cancer cells expressing specific targets, while minimizing the risk of off-target toxicity," said Rafael Amado, Adaptimmune’s Chief Medical Officer. "MAGE-A4 and MAGE-A10 are in clinical trials in a variety of solid tumors, and we expect to deliver data on the benefit:risk profile of these products throughout the second half of 2018."

Session, date, time, and location (for both posters):

• Date: Monday, Apr 16, 2018
• Time: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM (CDT)
• Location: McCormick Place South, Exhibit Hall A, Poster Section 24
Poster 1 – MAGE-A4
• Title: Affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor (TCR) for adoptive T-cell therapy targeting MAGE-A4
• Poster Board Number: 21
• Permanent Abstract Number: 2562
• Objectives:
Determine the frequency of MAGE-A4 expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to identify patients most likely to benefit from SPEAR T-cell therapy
Perform preclinical testing for specificity, potency, and safety of MAGE-A4 SPEAR T-cells

• Methods:
MAGE-A4 expression in NSCLC: 534 resected NSCLC cases (stage I to IV) with clinicopathological information including overall survival and recurrence were analyzed for MAGE-A4 expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC)
Preclinical testing for specificity, potency, and safety of MAGE-A4 SPEAR T-cells:
− Potency/efficacy testing of MAGE-A4 SPEAR T-cells by antigen driven proliferation, cytokine release, and cytotoxicity assays
− In vitro testing against panels of primary normal cells from multiple organ systems in 2-D, 3-D, and induced pluripotent stem cell culture formats to identify cross-reactivities in more physiologically relevant cultures
− Molecular mapping of the TCR peptide-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) binding preferences to identify potential cross-reactive peptides, verification of identified peptides by loading candidates on antigen-presenting cells, and expression of source proteins in antigen-presenting cells to confirm lack of candidate peptide processing and presentation

• Conclusions:
MAGE-A4 expression was observed in ~24% of all NSCLC cases, with higher frequency observed in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (51%) versus adenocarcinoma (8%)
Extensive in vitro preclinical safety assessment and identified no major safety concerns for MAGE-A4 SPEAR T-cell reactivity
This MAGE-A4 SPEAR T-cell is being evaluated in a clinical trial in patients with in bladder, melanoma, head & neck, ovarian, NSCLC, esophageal, and gastric cancers
Poster 2 – MAGE-A10
• Title: Selection of affinity-enhanced T-cell receptors for adoptive T-cell therapy targeting MAGE‑A10
• Poster Board Number: 23
• Permanent Abstract Number: 2564
• Objectives: Generate and systematically test affinity-enhanced TCRs that recognize an HLA-A*02 restricted epitope from MAGE-A10 cancer/testis antigens
• Develop an extensive in vitro testing strategy to characterize and reduce the risk of TCR cross-reactivity, including a novel approach for generating peptide specificity profiles for candidate TCRs – the peptide X-scan
• Methods:
Twenty-one parental TCRs recognizing the HLA-A*0201-restricted MAGE-A10 peptide GLYDGMEHL254-262 (MAGE-A10254-262) epitope were characterized using surface plasmon resonance (SPR)
Ten parental TCRs were cloned into a lentiviral vector and transduced into primary human T-cells, and screened for recognition of natively processed antigen using MAGE-A10–positive and –negative cell lines and primary cells as targets
Three parental TCRs selected for affinity enhancement, and the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) of their α- and β‑chains were mutated, and resulting TCRs tested for affinity and specificity

• Conclusions:
Adaptimmune developed an affinity-enhanced TCR with high specificity and potency against cells expressing HLA-A*0201 and the cancer antigen MAGE-A10
− After generating TCR mutants with diverse germline and CDR loop sequences, the optimal candidate for preclinical testing was identified by applying a novel comprehensive specificity screen (X-scan)
− Together with other key developments in preclinical safety and potency assessments, this strategy is expected to mitigate the risk of unexpected off-target crossreactivity and resulting clinical toxicities
The MAGE-A10 SPEAR T-cell that was selected is being evaluated in clinical trials in NSCLC, and a triple tumor study in bladder, melanoma, and head & neck cancers

Fate Therapeutics Announces Off-the-Shelf CAR T-cell Cancer Immunotherapy to be Featured at 2018 AACR Annual Meeting Press Program

On April 16, 2018 Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, reported that the Company is presenting new preclinical data on FT819, its off-the-shelf CAR T-cell product candidate, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting being held from April 14-18, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois (Press release, Fate Therapeutics, APR 16, 2018, View Source [SID1234525343]).

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The presentation of FT819 was accepted by AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) as a late-breaking abstract, and was subsequently selected by AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) to be featured at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting press program being held today at 8:30 a.m. CT.
FT819 is an off-the-shelf CAR T-cell product candidate produced from a master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line. FT819 has two targeting receptors, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting CD19-positive tumor cells and a CD16 Fc receptor that can engage other proven cancer therapies, such as tumor antigen-targeting monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based treatments, to overcome antigen escape. Fate Therapeutics is developing FT819 as part of a research collaboration being led by Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Center for Cell Engineering, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

In preclinical studies, FT819 exhibited an efficient cytotoxic T-cell response in vitro when challenged with CD19-positive tumor cells, displaying robust production of effector cytokines, including INF-gamma and TNF-alpha, and cytolytic proteins, including perforin and granzyme B. The product candidate’s activity was also found to be target-specific in vitro, attacking only CD19-positive tumor cells and sparing CD19-negative tumor cells. Additionally, when combined with a mAb-based treatment targeting CD20, FT819 was shown to elicit antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) in vitro against CD19-negative, CD20-positive tumor cells through CD16 engagement.
The master iPSC line used for the production of FT819 is engineered in a one-time event to insert CAR19 into the T-cell receptor α constant (TRAC) locus for enhanced safety and potency and to completely eliminate T-cell receptor (TCR) expression. The line serves as a renewable source for consistently and repeatedly manufacturing homogeneous cell products in quantities that support the treatment of many thousands of patients in an off-the-shelf manner. This approach eliminates the need to create a personalized therapy from a patient’s own cells, enables mass production at scale and significantly reduces the cost of, and time to, patient treatment.
The data is also being presented by the Company in a poster session.

Presentation: Generation of off-the-shelf TCR-less CAR-targeted cytotoxic T cells from renewable pluripotent cells for cancer immunotherapy

Session: Late-Breaking Poster Session – Immunology
Time and Date:8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT, Monday, April 16, 2018
Location:McCormick Place South (Level 3), Exhibit Hall A, Section 45, Poster LB-108 / 5
Following presentation at the meeting, the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) press program and poster presentations will be available on the Company’s website at www.fatetherapeutics.com.

Synlogic Presents Preclinical Data from Synthetic Biotic Immuno-Oncology Program at the American Association for Cancer Research 2018 Annual Meeting

On April 16, 2018 Synlogic, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYBX), a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company applying synthetic biology to probiotics to develop novel living medicines, reported that preclinical data from its immuno-oncology (IO) program were featured in two presentations at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) (Press release, Synlogic, APR 16, 2018, View Source [SID1234525360]). The data demonstrate that, in mouse models, Synlogic’s Synthetic Biotic medicines were shown to stimulate an antitumor response and robustly reprogram the tumor microenvironment potentially enabling the treatment of a variety of cancers.

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"Our IO program highlights the potential of our Synthetic Biotic platform for the design and engineering of novel living medicines with multiple mechanisms of action to treat a broad range of diseases, including cancer," said J.C. Gutiérrez-Ramos, Ph.D., Synlogic’s president and chief executive officer. "Our approach enables us, in a single treatment, to locally deliver multiple, regulatable activities that stimulate an immune response and modulate the tumor environment in order to mobilize the immune system against the tumor and its metastases. We intend to advance our first IO program into IND enabling studies this year."

Synlogic is focused initially on developing Synthetic Biotic medicines to treat so-called "cold tumors," which lack infiltrating anti-tumor T-cells by first stimulating an innate anti-tumor response to make the tumor "hot" and then modifying the tumor microenvironment (TME) to enable T cell expansion and the development of memory, using a single agent to both prime T-cells to mount an immune response and sustain the response. Recent studies have demonstrated that activation of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway can play a critical role in the initiation of an anti-tumor immune response via activation of antigen presenting cells (APCs) and presentation of tumor antigens. The TME has long been understood to have a role in preventing or interrupting this process. Certain metabolites produced within the tumor such as kynurenine or adenosine can lead to T cell dysfunction and exhaustion, significantly blunting anti-tumor immune responses. Data presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) demonstrate the potential of Synlogic’s Synthetic Biotic medicines to manipulate both pathways to enable efficient anti-tumor activity in mouse models.

In a presentation in the late-breaking research immunology session, Activation of Innate and Adaptive Immunity via Combinatorial Immunotherapy using Synthetic Biotic Medicines,Synlogic described two new genetic circuits engineered into E. coli Nissle, an immune "initiator" STING activating circuit (SYN-STING) and an immune "sustainer" kynurenine consuming circuit (SYN-Kyn). SYN-STING can be delivered directly into the tumor enabling its localized site of action. The approach of using intra-tumoral injection elicits innate responses in the tumor but not in the circulation, potentially decreasing the risk of adverse events that may arise from the production of systemic type I interferon. In contrast to other therapeutic approaches in development, SYN-Kyn lowers levels of the kynurenine metabolite by degrading it, a mechanism that is independent of the enzyme(s) used by both immune and tumor cells to produce kynurenine (IDO1/2 and/or TDO).

In preclinical studies, Synlogic has demonstrated that:
In vitro, SYN-STING produces biologically-relevant levels of ci-di-AMP, activating APCs, while SYN-Kyn consumes kynurenine at concentrations comparable to those found in patients’ tumors;
SYN-STING treatment of either B16.F10 or A20 tumors results in robust tumor rejection or control, which correlates with an early rise in innate-immune cytokines and later results in T cell activation in tumors and tumor-draining lymph nodes;
Combining SYN-Kyn with a checkpoint inhibitor led to profound anti-tumor activity in the CT26 immunocompetent tumor model; and
A strain engineered to combine both genetic circuits (SYN-STING:Kyn) demonstrates equivalent production of ci-di-AMP and consumption of kynurenine in vitro compared to the individual strains SYN-STING and SYN-Kyn, respectively.
A second presentation entitled Metabolic Modulation of the Tumor Microenvironment using Synthetic Biotic Medicines demonstrated that engineered bacterial strains designed to consume either kynurenine (SYN-Kyn) or adenosine (SYN-Ade) effectively relieved TME immunosuppression and promoted anti-tumor activity.
In summary:
Invitro SYN-Kyn and SYN-Ade can deplete kynurenine and adenosine, respectively, at concentrations that are clinically relevant;
SYN-Kyn demonstrated rapid and near-complete reductions in tumor kynurenine levels in vivo;
A combination of either SYN-Kyn or SYN-Ade with checkpoint inhibition led to superior anti-tumor activity in the MC38 immunocompetent tumor model compared with checkpoint inhibitors alone.
About Synthetic Biotic Medicines
Synlogic’s innovative new class of Synthetic Biotic medicines leverages the tools and principles of synthetic biology to genetically engineer probiotic microbes to perform or deliver critical functions missing or damaged due to disease. The company’s two lead programs, SYNB1020 and SYNB1618, target hyperammonemia as a result of liver damage or genetic disease, and phenylketonuria, respectively. Patients with these diseases are unable to break down commonly occurring by-products of digestion that then accumulate to toxic levels and cause serious health consequences. When delivered orally, these medicines can act from the gut to compensate for the dysfunctional metabolic pathway and have a systemic effect, with the potential to significantly improve symptoms of disease for affected patient. Synlogic has earlier-stage programs that apply the broad potential of its Synthetic Biotic platform in other disease areas, from inflammatory and immune disorders to cancer.

Two ground-breaking EORTC trials headlined at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

In the first, Alexander M.M. Eggermont, Director General of the Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus Grand Paris in Villejuif, France, and investigators from 23 countries across the world, found that giving a one-year course of 18 doses of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) significantly reduced the risk of the cancer returning for patients with stage III melanoma who were at high risk of recurrence after surgery (Press release, EORTC, APR 16, 2018, View Source [SID1234525394]). Patients with stage III melanoma have metastatic disease in one or more regional lymph nodes. Giving a dose of 200 milligrams of pembrolizumab every three weeks after surgery for up to a year significantly reduced the risk of recurrence for these patients the investigators found.

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Pembrolizumab works by blocking a protective mechanism of cancer cells, thus allowing the immune system to destroy them. Of the 1,019 patients recruited to the double-blind trial, 514 were randomised to pembrolizumab, and the others to placebo. For all those randomised to pembrolizumab, the 12-month recurrence-free survival rate was 75.4 percent, compared with 61.0 percent for all those randomised to placebo. The estimated hazard ratio was 0.57, indicating that risk of recurrence or death was reduced by 43 percent in patients randomised to pembrolizumab as compared to those randomised to placebo.

After a median follow-up of 1.25 years, 135 of the 514 patients randomised to pembrolizumab and 216 of the 505 patients randomised to placebo had been diagnosed with recurrent disease or had died. Patients randomised to placebo who had recurrence were offered access to pembrolizumab. "This cross-over design is unique in the world of adjuvant trials in melanoma and will permit us to analyse if adjuvant therapy with pembrolizumab right after surgery is better or not than treating only those who relapse and start treatment at relapse," says Eggermont. "We hope that these data will lead to regulators in the United States and Europe approving pembrolizumab as a new treatment option for these patients."
The trial results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Abstract no CT001 : Pembrolizumab versus placebo after complete resection of high-risk stage III melanoma: Efficacy and safety results from the EORTC 1325-MG/Keynote 054 double-blinded phase III trial

In the second trial, investigators from eight European countries, headed by Patrick Schöffski from KU Leuven, Belgium, found that treatment with a targeted cancer drug achieved complete or partial tumour shrinkage in 50% of patients with inflammatory myofibrobastic tumour (IMFT), a very rare type of soft tissue sarcoma. Soft tissue sarcomas in themselves are very rare, accounting for just 1% of all solid tumour diagnoses, and IMFT so uncommon that there are no reliable statistics for its incidence or for mortality rates.
Many IFMTs have rearrangements of the ALK gene. Recently discovered as a target for cancer therapies, the ALK gene can be oncogenic in three ways – by forming a fusion gene with any of several other genes, by gaining additional copies or through mutations of the actual DNA code for the gene itself.
Schöffski and colleagues therefore set out to see whether the ALK inhibitor crizotinib might be a potential treatment for patients with IMFT. "Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours are usually resistant to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so patients with unresectable or locally recurring disease have few treatment options," he says.
Because IMFT is so rare, only 35 patients with a local diagnosis of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour could be recruited to the trial. Twenty of these patients were confirmed centrally to have the disease and received crizotinib.
Nineteen patients were evaluable for response. The objective response rate among the 12 evaluable patients with ALK-positive IFMTs who received crizotinib was 50 percent (95% confidence interval : 21.1-78.9%); two had a confirmed complete response and four had a confirmed partial response. Among the seven evaluable patients with ALK-negative IFMTs, the rate was 14.3 percent (95% confidence interval: 0.0-57.9%). In the group of patients with ALK-positive IFMT, crizotinib activity met the pre-specified response rate criteria set by the protocol.
« Limitations of the trial include that it is a noncomparative, single-arm study with a relatively small number of patients. Given the disease prevalence, a more definitive, randomised, comparative trial would not be possible, » says Schöffski.
« However, our study highlights how identifying the genetic drivers of a rare type of cancer can be used to find a new precision medicine for patients who otherwise have few treatment options," he adds. "The inclusion in our trial of a group of patients with ALK-negative inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors provides valuable insight into the selectivity of crizotinib and our understanding of this rare disease, even if we cannot formally compare the outcomes for the ALK-positive and -negative groups."
The trial results are published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Abstract no CT045 :Prospective precision medicine trial of crizotinib (C) in patients (pts) with advanced, inoperable inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMFT) with and without ALK alterations: EORTC phase II study 90101 "CREATE"