RE:RE:CD8+ TiLs and T-cell exhaustion" We found that after every infusion, you have a new immune response, with a new group of T cells coming in to fight the cancer,” explained senior author Alexander Huang, MD, an assistant professor of Hematology-Oncology and a research investigator with the Tara Miller Melanoma Center at the ACC. “Think about these T cells like an army: for many cancer patients, even when they have tumors growing, experienced T cell fighters are trying to slow down the advance of the enemy cancer cells. We call them ‘exhausted T cells’ because they’ve been fighting so long, but they’re elite because they’re able to survive in a hostile environment and know how to recognize and fight the cancer cells.”
Conventional thought was that certain immune checkpoint blockade therapies would strengthen exhausted T cells, directly rejuvenating them. However, these new data suggest that immune checkpoint blockade actually brings in new recruits from the barracks to fight the cancer. Conversely, there comes a time when the new T cell recruits have all been sent out and the barracks are empty, and this is when immune checkpoint blockade may become less effective."
ONCY's AWARE-1 WOO and Phase 2 Goblet studies demonstrated that :
- Translational data from the AWARE-1 study highlights pelareorep’s immune-mediated mechanism of action in breast cancer patients.
- Pelareorep treatment upregulated tumor PD-L1 expression, induced the generation and expansion of T cell clones, promoted tumor infiltration of CD8+ T cells, and increased the CelTIL score, a measure of tumor cellularity and inflammation associated with favorable clinical outcomes
- Pelareorep’s ability to expand TILs highlights its immunotherapeutic mechanism of action and potential as a backbone immunotherapy for multiple indications
- Pelareorep treatment increased TIL expansion in the blood in all pancreatic, breast, and colorectal cancer patients evaluated after one cycle of treatment.
- Pre-existing TIL clonal expansion in the blood appears to correlate with tumor responses in pancreatic cancer patients.