4D Pharma (DDDD ) said research has shown that its immune-oncology drug, MRx1299, can enhance the anti-tumour activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and CAR-T therapies.
The pharmaceutical firm said the results follow an evaluation of animal models of cancer which was conducted in collaboration with the Philipps-University Marburg and Universitätsklinikum Würzburg in Germany, and published in Nature Communications.
Specifically, the research, which was conducted to assess the actions of MRx1299, a second-generation live biotherapeutic which was developed by the Company to prompt an immune response to cancer, demonstrated the ability of the bacterium Megasphaera massiliensis, or its short chain fatty acid (SCFA), pentanoate, to enhance anti-tumour activity.
4D identified MRx1299 using its MicroRx® platform and has shown it to have ‘specific histone deacetylase inhibitory activity and be a rare prolific producer of pentanoate.’
This led to discussions with the lab of Dr. Alexander Visekruna, the corresponding author on the publication, due to their work investigating the effects of SCFAs on immune cell subsets.
Shares in 4D Pharma have increased by over 15% in value over the past month. The stock was trading 1.04% higher this morning at 106.3p following the Company’s announcement.
Commenting on the research, Dr. Imke Mulder, Research Director of 4D said, “Our existing clinical oncology programs, such as the study of MRx0518 and Keytruda in refractory patients, have shown the important role our live biotherapeutics have to play in the fight against cancer in combination with immunotherapies, Using the MicroRx platform we have now shown we have the potential to improve the efficacies of cell therapies such as CAR-T.”
Mulder said this demonstrates “not only the importance of Live Biotherapeutics as a new modality poised to revolutionize the treatment of a wide range of cancers, but also the power of our MicroRx platform to continue making significant discoveries and advances in this field."
Commenting on this morning’s results, Dr Alexander Visekruna of the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene at Philipps-University Marburg in Germany said:
“Collectively, these results suggest that low-abundant commensal bacterial species such as M. massiliensis and their selective metabolites such as pentanoate, rather than broadly distributed and abundant commensals, may be used as specific microbial biotherapeutics to enhance anti-tumor immunity and increase the efficacy of CAR-T therapy for treating tumors.”
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