Therapeutic advances in cancer immunotherapy  have rapidly emerged in the past few years, reflecting the importance of the interaction between the human immune system and cancer. Despite the successful application of immunotherapy across a broad range of human cancers, only a minority of patients with terminal cancer experience life-altering durable survival from these therapies. These outcomes likely reflect the complex and highly regulated nature of the immune system. We recently reported that treatment with an immune modulating peptide, which binds to the CD45 receptors in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), reverses immune suppression via the CD45 the signaling pathway. C24D-binding to CD45 resulted in immune reactivation and specific tumor cell killing.

UNMET NEED
TNBC is an aggressive type of cancer, often diagnosed at a more advanced stage which affects younger women and lacks targeted therapies.  Despite that TNBC can display immunogenic features, immunotherapy strategies have resulted in disappointing results, underscoring the need to optimize their use in TNBC. Resistance to immuno check point inhibitors remains a major hurdle to overcome, with a major need to explore novel immunotherapy strategies.

OUR SOLUTION
We develop small molecules and peptides binding to a specific epitope on CD45 receptor which reverses immunosuppression exerted by TNBC cells. Those novel agents can be combined with existing therapies for the treatment of immunotherapy non-responders tumors. 

APPLICATIONS and STATUS
Specific binding to CD45 on immunosuppressed cells averts many of the immune related adverse events.
Peptides and small molecules display low toxicity, fewer side effects and minimal drug-drug interaction.
Easily and inexpensively produced.
MOA is complementary to that of  many immune checkpoint inhibitors and other cancer drugs.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

TREATMENT OF DISEASES WITH MULTIMERIC PEPTIDES PUBLICATION NUMBER: 20220120732

REFERENCES
Annat Raiter, Oran Zlotnik, Julia Lipovetsky, Shany Mugami, Shira Dar, Ido Lubin, Eran Sharon, Cyrille J. Cohen & Rinat Yerushalmi (2021) A novel role for an old target: CD45 for breast cancer immunotherapy, OncoImmunology, 10:1, DOI: 10.1080/2162402X.2021.1929725