On March 1, 2021 OncoSec Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ:ONCS) (the "Company" or "OncoSec"), a late-stage biotechnology company focused on cytokine-based intratumoral immunotherapies, reported the publication of research demonstrating the ability of its lead candidate TAVO (tavokinogene telseplasmid), a DNA-based interleukin-12 (IL-12), to activate tumor antigen specific antitumor immunity in patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) (Press release, OncoSec Medical, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575865]). The manuscript by Melinda L. Telli, M.D. et al. is titled, "Intratumoral plasmid IL-12 expands CD8+ T cells and induces a CXCR3 gene signature in triple-negative breast tumors that sensitizes patients to anti-PD-1 therapy," and is available online.
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Key findings from the article include:
TAVO treatment induced expression of a CXCR3 gene signature (CXCR3-GS), which was associated with enhanced antigen presentation, T cell infiltration and expansion, and PD-1/PD-L1 expression in mouse models.
Assessment of pre- and post-treatment tissue from patients confirmed enrichment of CXCR3-GS in tumors that exhibited an enhancement of CD8+ T cell infiltration following treatment with TAVO.
One patient who was previously unresponsive to anti-PD-L1 therapy exhibited an increased CXCR3-GS after TAVO treatment, and subsequently demonstrated a significant clinical response after receiving additional anti-PD-1 therapy.
"TNBC is an aggressive disease with limited therapeutic options, as only a subset of patients benefits from antibodies targeting PD-1/PD-L1," said Dr. Telli, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "The published results demonstrate TAVO’s potential to positively impact immunogenicity, providing mechanistic insights as well as a strong rationale to combine with chemokines and checkpoint inhibitors."
Herbert Kim Lyerly, M.D., George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor of Immunology at Duke University and Director on OncoSec’s Board of Directors, added, "The published results add to the growing body of evidence indicating TAVO’s potential to activate the immune system in patients with cancer who are refractory to available treatments."
About TAVO
OncoSec’s gene therapy technology combines TAVO (tavokinogene telseplasmid), a DNA plasmid-based interleukin-12 (IL-12), with an intra-tumoral electroporation gene delivery platform to achieve endogenous IL-12 production in the tumor microenvironment that enables the immune system to target and attack tumors throughout the body. TAVO has demonstrated a local and systemic anti-tumor response in several clinical trials, including the pivotal Phase 2b trial KEYNOTE-695 for metastatic melanoma and the KEYNOTE-890 Phase 2 trial in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). TAVO has received both Orphan Drug and Fast-Track Designation by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.