April 3rd, 2006
Preclinical Study Supports Therapeutic Potential of Micromet’s Novel BiTE™ Candidate MT110 Against Solid Tumors
Micromet reports preclinical data on MT110, a novel candidate in the Company's pipeline of proprietary BiTE™ molecules. MT110 targets the Ep-CAM antigen, which is frequently overexpressed on most human carcinomas including breast, prostate, colon, lung, stomach, pancreas, head & neck and ovary cancer.
The study published in the recent issue of Molecular Immunology (2006; 43:1129-1143) (1) demonstrates that MT110 could efficiently redirect unstimulated human T cells to lyse cancer cells from all tumor cell lines tested. The BiTE™ candidate was also highly efficacious in a NOD/SCID mouse model with subcutaneously growing human colon cancer cells. Five daily doses of 1 microgram of MT110 were sufficient to completely inhibit tumor outgrowth or eradicate established tumors in all mice treated. In addition, MT110 could eliminate patient-derived metastatic ovarian cancer tissue growing in mice. In all experiments, MT110 was capable of effectively and specifically activating human T cells against tumor cells without any additional costimulation of T cells. Of note, T cell activation by MT110 was only triggered in the presence of target cells.
"Our new results reiterate the unique properties already seen with other candidates of the BiTE™ family," Patrick Baeuerle, CSO of Micromet, pointed out. "It is however remarkable that MT110 was able to eradicate patient-derived tumor tissue implanted in immune-deficient mice, by redirecting just those few human T cells carried along in the patient sample. These tumor-resident T cells are thought to be anergic. Their activation by BiTE™ molecules could provide a truly novel therapeutic modality with strong potential for the treatment of late stage tumors that are in high need for more treatment options."
MT103, the most advanced candidate of the BiTE™ family is currently in clinical phase I for the treatment of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. |
