LIfT BioSciences has announced what it says are exciting preclinical data demonstrating that its immunomodulatory alpha neutrophil product (IMANp) possesses both cytotoxic and immunomodulatory functionalities.
The company said these are commonly cited by medical professionals as being critical for potentially curing solid tumors in patients. LIfT BioSciences said this involved learning from the experience of other cell therapies that have struggled to realize their potential in the clinic.
New data highlight that IMANp demonstrated a dual mechanism of action. The presence of IMANp promoted recruitment of host immune cells into solid tumor preclinical models, as well as their activation, which correlated with enhanced tumor cell killing. Also, enhanced proliferation and IFN-γ were observed from tumor infiltrating lymphocytes following co-culture with IMANp.
The immune-modulation was demonstrated to successfully recruit the rest of the immune system and suppress an immunosuppressive tumor micro-environment (TME). IMANp stimulated the recruitment, activation, and proliferation of CD4, CD8, NK cells and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, and resulted in two- to three-fold increases in tumor cell killing.
LIfT BioSciences claims breakthrough
LIfT BioSciences said this marks a major breakthrough, showing that the patient’s immune system can be recruited and activated to infiltrate otherwise cold tumor micro-environment and turn them hot. The effect also worked for stimulating other allogeneic immune cells including allogeneic NK cells and T-cells.
The data also highlight the potential for IMANp to be used not only as a monotherapy, but in combination with other therapies where efficacy is limited due to the absence of effector cells in the tumor microenvironment, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Combination with IMANp could significantly increase response rates to ICIs, which currently stand at 25% to 30%.
To further consolidate the preclinical data demonstrating cytotoxicity and immunomodulation by IMANp, the company said it has generated successful functional proof-of-concept data for iPSC-derived and gene engineered IMANp products.
Alex Blyth, chief executive officer of LIfT BioSciences, said: “We are delighted with the continued positive data that we are observing with our allogeneic innate cell therapy further supporting our plans to move into clinical trials next year.
“The data from this preclinical study validates that our alpha neutrophil product, IMANp, possesses a unique dual mode of action with direct anti-tumour activity and potent immunomodulatory properties, marking a major advancement in the development of novel cancer treatments. Our continued strong results have created international interest in our approach as we continue to develop a GMP manufacturing process in preparation for our clinical trials, and I look forward to providing progress updates on LIfT BioSciences as we continue to make great strides.”
These latest results come after LIfT announced results of research conducted in partnership with Champions Oncology in 2022, showing that N-LIfT, its neutrophil-based leukocyte infusion therapy, showed complete destruction of a range of solid patient derived tumoroid models.
About LIfT BioSciences
LIfT BioSciences is a biotech bringing to patients a first -in-class allogeneic innate cell therapy platform called neutrophil only leukocyte infusion therapy (N-LIfT). The company’s vision is to develop the world’s first cell bank of off-the-shelf allogeneic ‘cancer killing and immune-modulatory neutrophils’ to deliver a portfolio of immuno-oncology cell therapies to treat solid tumors.