Clinical Trials

Date: 2016-12-04

Type of information: Presentation of results at a congress

phase: preclinical

Announcement: presentation of results at the 58th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting

Company: Autolus (UK)

Product: APRIL based chimeric antigen receptor

Action mechanism:

• cell therapy/immunotherapy product/gene therapy/CAR-T cell therapy. APRIL is a natural ligand for both human and murine forms of B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and transmembrane activator and calcium modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor (TACI). APRIL based Chimeric Antigen Receptor are  chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T cell) therapy that targets both BCMA and TACI. By targeting TACI in addition to BCMA on the same cancer cell, more patients may be eligible for CAR-T treatment and less patients may be at risk of cancer relapse due to loss of BCMA expression on their cancer.

Disease:

Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology

Country:

Trial details:

Latest news:

• • On December 4, 2016, Autolus announced that data was presented by Dr Lydia Lee, Cancer Institute, University College London, for its novel, dual-targeted, proliferating-inducing ligand (APRIL) Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) at the American Society of Hematology 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego. Multiple myeloma samples from 50 patients were analysed for expression of B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and transmembrane activator and calcium modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor (TACI). The expression of both targets ranged from a few hundred receptors to more than 10,000 receptors per cell. APRIL is a natural ligand for both human and murine forms of BCMA and TACI and as APRIL CAR leads to highly efficient killing of cells expressing BCMA or TACI in vitro, while soluble APRIL did not inhibit APRIL CAR activity in vitro. APRIL CAR completely eliminated multiple myeloma in mouse models without any signs of toxicity as analysed by histopathology. The programme is currently in pre-clinical development with a Phase I clinical study expected to start in H1 2017.

 

Is general: Yes