RE:RE:RE:Pfizer acquires Canadian Trillium for US$2.3 BillionAs a point of clarification, macrophages have emerged as a new potential target of immunotherapy. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) can eliminate tumor cells through phagocytosis, maintaining a suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME).
Cluster of differentiation 47 (CD47) is a transmembrane glycoprotein ubiquitously expressed in normal cells and serves as a cellular receptor regulating phagocytosis.
CD47 binding to the signal-regulated protein (SIRPα) expressed on the surface of macrophages protects cells from being “eaten” by macrophages.
Various malignancies such as gastric, bladder, colorectal, and breast cancer are found to be associated with CD47 overexpression.
Consequently, the cancer cell sends out a "don't eat me" signal (CD47) that stops immune cells from destroying it. Trillium's drugs are seeking to block CD47, a cell-surface receptor that is expressed in many cancers like those referenced above.
ONCY's oncolytic virus is able to overturn an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), increasing T-cell clonality, and trafficking T-cells to the tumor cell for enhanced T-cell infiltration into the cancer cells thus converting the TME into one that is conducive for PD-1 checkpoint blockade therapy, which collectively contributes to an effective triplet therapy of ONCY's pelareorep + anti-CD47 + ICI therapy that can address both sides of the immune system.