STING/pHLIP Combo therapyAn interesting article was recently published on work done by Yale/URI researchers. They looked at hooking up a STING agonist (STimulator of InterferoN Genes) to a pHLIP agent (pH-Low Insertion Peptide). STING agonists by themselves don't work too well on cold tumours (because they can't find them), but they can be targeted to those tumours by the pHLIP agent. In this method, the pHLIP agent carries the STING agonist to the tumours and the STING agonist activates the active immune system against the tumours. The pHLIP agent does not appear to inflame the tumour, but I'm not sure on this point.
This study is pre-clinical (murine models only to date), but pHLIP compounds are already in clinical safety trials. STING agonists are known to have significant adverse side effects, but the hope is that combining them with the pHLIP compounds would possibly reduce those issues.
It is possible that the pHLIP agents could be combined with other lytic agents beside STING agonists.
I would assume that Pela could perform the same role as a pHLIP agent in this combo (although with a different method of action). Although pHLIP would be seen as a potential competitor, work on it is several years behind Pela pipeline-wise. Also, tumour taxonomy is sufficiently wide and diverse - there may be ample room for both agents, in various targeted applications.
https://www.genengnews.com/topics/drug-discovery/acid-seeking-peptide-targets-immunotherapy-specifically-to-tumors/