Tanja Obradovic: Exploring the Potential of B Cell Activation in Cancer Immunotherapy: Insights from AT-1965 Phase 1/2 Study
Tanja Obradovic, Vice President of Scientific Affairs at ICON plc., shared a post on LinkedIn:
“In fighting cancer many studies so far have focused on T cells and few have focused on B cells and their subsets. B cells play an important role in tumor metastasis and they not only secrete antibodies and various cytokines but also function in antigen presentation to directly or indirectly participate in tumor immunity. Combining power of B cell activation with T cell therapies or immune checkpoint inhibition can potentially significantly improve the response currently achieved with immunotherapies. One major move in this direction happened with first patient dosed in the Phase 1/2 study of the small- molecule Cap-MethyTransferase2 (CMTR2) inhibitor, AT-1965 (made by Alyssum Therapeutics). As AT-1965 inhibits CMTR2 in cancer cells, it triggers conversion of cancer cell RNA into viral-like RNA that cancer subsequently sheds in large quantity leading to triggering B cells to mount an immune response against this viral signature. Important new mechanism to follow for potential do deliver benefit to patients (trial NCT06234098).”