Date: 2017-04-03
Type of
information: Presentation of results at a congress
phase: preclinical
Announcement: presentation of results at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting
Company: iTeos Therapeutics (Belgium)
Product: A2A receptor antagonist
Action
mechanism:
- A2A receptor antagonist. Extracellular adenosine is a signaling molecule known as an inhibitor of immune functions. High levels of adenosine and adenosine-producing enzymes are found in various tumor indications. Tumors use adenosine as an important process to evade immune attack and promote their survival. The adenosine A2A receptor is the main adenosine receptor expressed on immune cell subsets including T-cells, NK cells and dendritic cells. Binding of adenosine to the A2A receptor on immune cells blocks the activation and effector functions of anti-tumor immune cells and promotes a regulatory, immune-suppressive phenotype. A significant amount of scientific data underlines that targeting the adenosine-cancer axis through the A2A receptor can promote anti-tumor immune responses and lead to tumor regression. Several clinical development programs in oncology are currently ongoing with compounds which were initially designed for Parkinson Disease.
Disease:
Therapeutic
area: Cancer - Oncology
Country:
Trial
details:
Latest
news:
- • On April 3, 2017, iTeos Therapeutics announced that the company has presented preclinical data for its A2A receptor antagonist, which inhibits the immune suppressive function of adenosine, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. The poster titled, ‘A novel adenosine A2A receptor antagonist optimized for high potency in adenosine-rich tumor microenvironment boosts anti-tumor immunity’ has been presented by Christophe Quéva, Chief Scientific Officer at iTeos Therapeutics.
- iTeos Therapeutics has developed a novel and potent best-in-class A2A blocker that has been specifically optimized for immuno-oncology indications to retain a high potency in the adenosine-rich environment found in tumors and to restore cytokine production even in the presence of high concentrations of adenosine. Furthermore, the data show that the compound is able to potently increase CD8 T cell cytotoxicity. The company showed how they first defined A2A as the receptor required for mediating the effect of adenosine on immune cells within the tumor microenvironment and reported the characterization of a novel immuno-oncology-dedicated adenosine receptor 2A antagonist that functions in the high adenosine concentration found in tumors.
Is
general: Yes
