Seattle, WA, Oct. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Outpace Bio, a cell therapy company that is solving the major barriers to curing solid tumors with AI-powered protein design, today announced it will present the latest advancements to its OutSmartTM platform during a poster presentation at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) being held from November 1-5, 2023 in San Diego, CA.
Overcoming major barriers to efficacy & safety in solid tumors with OutSmartTM
Cancer cells produce signaling proteins that turn off the immune response, creating a suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) that allows cancer to grow and spread. Pro-inflammatory cytokines could overcome this barrier to effective cancer immunotherapies but pose a significant safety risk to patients when delivered systemically given their potency.
The forthcoming data showcase the most recent advancements in Outpace’s groundbreaking OutSmartTM platform technology, which enables exquisite regulation of cytokine signaling within the TME to surmount this significant hurdle to the success of engineered cell therapy for solid tumors. OutSmartTM cytokines orchestrate a productive immune response at the tumor through highly localized activity that stimulates both the engineered cell therapy as well as endogenous immune cells.
New data on context-dependent, localized IL-12 activity designed leveraging OutSmartTM technology
The presentation highlights an innovative tumor-restricted IL-12 (trIL-12) technology that delivers potent IL-12 stimulation at the tumor site while avoiding systemic exposure. IL-12 is an immune-stimulatory cytokine that can induce potent anti-tumor activity, but systemic delivery of IL-12 has been shown to cause severe toxicity in patients.
trIL-12 was designed leveraging Outpace’s OutSmartTM technology to rapidly auto-inactivate IL-12 after inducible secretion from engineered T cells with the aim of achieving safe, local delivery of IL-12 activity. trIL-12 is being advanced under a collaboration between Lyell Immunopharma and Outpace with the goal of improving efficacy for T-cell therapies while maintaining a favorable safety profile.
"With the latest application of our OutSmartTM technology, we believe that we have successfully unlocked the therapeutic potential of IL-12, a goal that the scientific community has pursued for quite some time," remarked Dr. Scott Boyken, PhD, Chief Technology Officer. "The highly localized and conditionally controlled activity of trIL-12 is unattainable through traditional small molecule drugs or protein-based therapeutics. Our work underscores the immense therapeutic potential of cell therapies powered by protein design, and we will continue to harness our protein design expertise to address the urgent needs of patients with limited treatment options."
Poster Presentation Details
Title: Protein design and inducible expression allow context-dependent, localized IL-12 activity to enhance solid tumor T cell therapies
Session Date/Time: Friday, November 3, 2023 (12-1:30 pm, 5:10-6:40 pm)
Abstract Number: 1047 (link to full abstract)
Presenting Author: Dr. Scott Boyken, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Outpace Bio
About Outpace Bio
Outpace is a cell therapy company that is solving the major barriers to curing solid tumors with unrivaled AI-powered protein design. With an initial focus on solid tumors, Outpace is developing technologies that overcome the barriers to efficacy and safety by programming cells to make the right decisions inside patients. Outpace’s suite of technologies drive persistent activity of the cell therapy (OutLast™), stimulate a productive immune response in the tumor microenvironment (OutSmart™), and maximize the potency (OutSpacers™), safety (OutSafeTM), and specificity (Co-LOCKR™) necessary to unlock diverse cancer indications. Outpace’s internal and partnered pipeline approach is optimized for rapid clinical validation of its technologies across diverse cell types and manufacturing processes. Outpace is based in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, visit outpacebio.com or email info@outpacebio.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram @OutpaceBio.
