This technology is a recombinant protein-induced antibody collection against Immunoglobulin-Like Transcript 3 (ILT3) that can modulate cancer cell growth and induce immune checkpoint blockade.
A major limitation to current treatment options for cancer are the associated detrimental side effects that occur because of the broad expression profile of the therapeutic target. Consequently, many chemotherapies are recognized to be cytotoxic, have poor tolerance, and low efficacy as a first line therapy. Immunotherapies, which seek to elicit a targeted immune response against specific disease markers, provide a promising method to improve the safety and specificity of chemotherapies. However, the lack of basic scientific knowledge surrounding many immunological proteins and their ligands precludes their use as immunotherapies.
This technology encompasses a collection of antibodies against ILT3, an innate immune receptor expressed in normal and malignant cells, that has been shown to act directly on myeloid malignancies and induce immune checkpoint blockade. The recombinant protein, ILT3.Fc, used to generate these antibodies has previously been studied as a therapeutic for autoimmune disease due to ILT3’s role in immunologic quiescence through modulation of T-cell activity. Until now, production of therapeutic antibodies has remained limited. Dr. Suciu-Foca and her team have developed antibodies, two agonistic and one antagonistic, to ILT3 using the recombinant protein ILT3.Fc. ILT3.Fc has been shown to bind activated and non-resting T cells to alter activity and directly affect tumor growth. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown a dose-dependent interaction between ILT3.Fc and CD166 and provided mechanistic information on the anti-tumor properties. As such, these antibodies provide therapeutic and diagnostic potential for cancer immunotherapy treatment, and act directly on ILT3 positive myeloid malignancies.
ILT3.Fc has been used to produce three anti-ILT3 antibodies from mice, which are demonstrated to bind membrane-bound ILT3 in an advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia with lymph node involvement and acute myeloid leukemia with monocytic differentiation.
[Nicole Suciu-Foca, Ph.D.]
CU15207, CU17285
Licensing Contact: Devin Jones