GV20 Therapeutics Announces Publication in Cell Highlighting the Discovery of IGSF8 as an Innate Immune Checkpoint and Cancer Immunotherapy Target
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- GV20 Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company integrating AI, genomics, and cancer biology to create next-generation antibody therapeutics, today announced the publication of a peer-reviewed article titled, "IGSF8 is an innate immune checkpoint and cancer immunotherapy target" in the journal Cell.
Antigen presentation defects in tumors are prevalent mechanisms of adaptive immune evasion and resistance to cancer immunotherapy, whereas how tumors evade innate immunity is less clear. In this study, the authors discovered that tumors with antigen presentation defects over express IGSF8 which interacts with NK receptors to suppress NK cell cytotoxicity. A monoclonal antibody against IGSF8 increases NK cell killing of cancer cells in vitro. In multiple syngenetic tumor models, anti-IGSF8 alone or in combination with anti-PD1 potently inhibit tumor growth in vivo. These results support IGSF8 as a novel innate immune checkpoint that could be exploited as a therapeutic target, and led to the nomination of GV20's lead program, GV20-0251.
"This publication in Cell builds on our recent oral presentation at AACR 2024 outlining the immune function of IGSF8 and the advancement of GV20-0251 into combination studies with KEYTRUDA® under our clinical collaboration with Merck," said Shirley Liu, CEO of GV20 Therapeutics. "The ongoing GV20-0251 Phase 1 study is advancing well, and we are pleased with the clinical profile seen thus far. We look forward to advancing GV20-0251 into monotherapy cohort expansion and combination studies later this year."
ABOUT GV20 THERAPEUTICS
At GV20 Therapeutics, our mission is to develop a differentiated pipeline of innovative antibody therapeutics to transform cancer treatment. We leverage our in-house STEAD platform (Simultaneous Target Evaluation and Antibody Discovery), which integrates AI, genomics, and disease biology to identify novel drug targets and create next-generation therapies against these targets. Our lead program, GV20-0251, a first-in-class, fully human, Fc-attenuated IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting a novel innate immune checkpoint IGSF8, is in a multi-center Phase I clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors (NCT05669430). GV20 is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.
To learn more about GV20, please visit https://gv20tx.com/ and follow the company on LinkedIn.
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