Dataset Information

Probody Therapeutics: An Emerging Class of Therapies Designed to Enhance On-Target Effects with Reduced Off-Tumor Toxicity for Use in Immuno-Oncology.

ABSTRACT: The deep and durable antitumor effects of antibody-based immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized oncology and transformed the therapeutic landscape for many cancers. Several anti-programmed death receptor 1 and anti-programmed death receptor ligand 1 antibodies have been approved for use in advanced solid tumors, including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, bladder cancer, and other cancers. ICIs are under development across many tumor types and preliminary results are compelling. However, ICIs have been associated with severe immune-related adverse events (irAEs), including rash, diarrhea, colitis, hypophysitis, hepatotoxicity, and hypothyroidism, which in some cases lead to high morbidity, are potentially life-threatening, and limit the duration of treatment. The incidence of severe irAEs increases further when programmed cell death-1 and programmed cell death ligand-1 inhibitors are combined with anti-CTLA-4 and/or other multidrug regimens. Probody therapeutics, a new class of recombinant, proteolytically activated antibody prodrugs are in early development and are designed to exploit the hallmark of dysregulation of tumor protease activity to deliver their therapeutic effects within the tumor microenvironment (TME) rather than peripheral tissue. TME targeting, rather than systemic targeting, may reduce irAEs in tissues distant from the tumor. Probody therapeutic technology has been applied to multiple antibody formats, including immunotherapies, Probody drug conjugates, and T-cell-redirecting bispecific Probody therapeutics. In preclinical models, Probody therapeutics have consistently maintained anticancer activity with improved safety in animals compared with the non-Probody parent antibody. In the clinical setting, Probody therapeutics may expand or create therapeutic windows for anticancer therapies.

SUBMITTER: Autio KA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8436251 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Host immunity recognizes and eliminates most early tumor cells, yet immunological checkpoints, exemplified by CTLA-4, PD-1, and PD-L1, pose a significant obstacle to effective antitumor immune responses. T-lymphocyte co-inhibitory pathways influence intensity, inflammation and duration of antitumor immunity. However, tumors and their immunosuppressive microenvironments exploit them to evade immune destruction. Recent PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors yielded unprecedented efficacies and durable responses across advanced-stage melanoma, showcasing potential to replace conventional radiotherapy regimens. Neverthless, many clinical problems remain in terms of efficacy, patient-to-patient variability, and undesirable outcomes and side effects. In this review, we evaluate recent advances in the immuno-oncology field and discuss ways forward. First, we give an overview of current immunotherapy modalities, involving mainy single agents, including inhibitor monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting T-cell checkpoints of PD-1 and CTLA-4. However, neoantigen recognition alone cannot eliminate tumors effectively in vivo given their inherent complex micro-environment, heterogeneous nature and stemness. Then, based mainly upon CTLA-4 and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors as a "backbone," we cover a range of emerging ("second-generation") therapies incorporating other immunotherapies or non-immune based strategies in synergistic combination. These include targeted therapies such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, co-stimulatory mAbs, bifunctional agents, epigenetic modulators (such as inhibitors of histone deacetylases or DNA methyltransferase), vaccines, adoptive-T-cell therapy, nanoparticles, oncolytic viruses, and even synthetic "gene circuits." A number of novel immunotherapy co-targets in pre-clinical development are also introduced. The latter include metabolic components, exosomes and ion channels. We discuss in some detail of the personalization of immunotherapy essential for ultimate maximization of clinical outcomes. Finally, we outline possible future technical and conceptual developments including realistic in vitro and in vivo models and inputs from physics, engineering, and artificial intelligence. We conclude that the breadth and quality of immunotherapeutic approaches and the types of cancers that can be treated will increase significantly in the foreseeable future.

Project description:Immuno-oncology (I-O) is a young and growing field on the frontier of cancer therapy. Contrary to cancer therapies that directly target malignant cells, I-O therapies stimulate the body's immune system to target and attack the tumor, which is otherwise invisible to, or inhibiting the immune response. To this end, several methods have been developed: First, passive therapies that enable T-cells to fight the tumor without direct manipulation, typically through binding and modifying the intracellular signaling of surface receptors. Checkpoint inhibitors, perhaps the most well known of I-O therapies; are an example of such. These are monoclonal antibodies that block binding of the tumor cell at receptors that inactivate the T-cell. A variety of small molecules can achieve the same effect by affecting metabolic or signaling pathways to boost the immune response or prevent its attenuation. Drugs originally formulated for unrelated disease states are now being used to treat cancer under the I-O approach. Second, active therapies which often involve direct manipulations that occur in vitro and once introduced to the patient will directly attack the tumor. Adoptive cell transfer is the oldest of these methods. It involves the removal of T-cells from the body, which are then expanded and genetically modified for specificity toward tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), and then reintroduced to the patient. A similar approach is taken with cancer vaccines, where TAAs are identified and reintroduced with adjuvants to stimulate an immune response, sometimes in the context of antigen-presenting cells or viral vectors. Oncolytic viruses are genetically modified natural viruses for selectivity toward tumor cells. The resulting cytotoxicity has the potential to elicit an immune response that furthers tumor cell killing. A final active approach is bi-specific T-cell engagers. These modified antibodies act to link a T-cell and tumor cell through surface receptors and thereby forcibly generate immune recognition. The therapies in each of these subfields are all still very new and ongoing clinical trials could provide even further additions. The full therapeutic potential of the aforementioned therapies, alone or in combination, has yet to be realized, but holds great promise for the future of cancer treatment.

Project description:Endometrial cancer (EC) can easily be cured when diagnosed at an early stage. However, advanced and metastatic EC is a common disease, affecting more than 15,000 patients per year in the United Sates. Only limited treatment options were available until recently, with a taxane-platinum combination as the gold standard in first-line setting and no efficient second-line chemotherapy or hormone therapy. EC can be split into four molecular subtypes, including hypermutated cases with POLE mutations and 25-30% harboring a microsatellite instability (MSI) phenotype with mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR). These tumors display a high load of frameshift mutations, leading to increased expression of neoantigens that can be targeted by the immune system, including (but not limited) to T-cell response. Recent data have demonstrated this impact of programmed death 1 and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitors on chemo-resistant metastatic EC. The uncontrolled KEYNOTE-158 and GARNET trials have shown high response rates with pembrolizumab and dostarlimab in chemoresistant MSI-high tumors. Most responders experiment long responses that last more than one year. Similar, encouraging results were obtained for MMR proficient (MMRp) cases treated with a combination of pembrolizumab and the angiogenesis inhibitor lenvatinib. Approvals have, thus, been obtained or are underway for EC with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) used as monotherapy, and in combination with antiangiogenic agents. Combinations with other targeted therapies are under evaluation and randomized studies are ongoing to explore the impact of ICI-chemotherapy triplets in first-line setting. We summarize in this review the current knowledge of the immune environment of EC, both for MMRd and MMRp tumors. We also detail the main clinical data regarding PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and discuss the next steps of development for immunotherapy, including various ICI-based combinations planned to limit resistance to immunotherapy.

Dataset Information

Probody Therapeutics: An Emerging Class of Therapies Designed to Enhance On-Target Effects with Reduced Off-Tumor Toxicity for Use in Immuno-Oncology.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets