Arovella to present at AACR Annual Meeting
Highlights:
Arovella will present data characterising different populations of CAR-iNKT cells within the ALA-101 drug product at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting;
Data shows that ALA-101 cells lacking CD4 on their surface (CD4-) kill CD19+ tumour cells more effectively than CD4+ cells;
Arovella’s proprietary manufacturing process maintains the CD4- population of CAR-iNKT cells, maintaining a healthy balance of cells with different mechanisms of responding to tumour cells;
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA 27 Mar 2024: Arovella Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: ALA), a biotechnology company focused on developing its invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cell therapy platform, is pleased to announce that it will present data summarising characterisation of its ALA-101 CAR-iNKT cell therapy at the upcoming American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego on 8 April 2024.
The data summarises two distinct phenotypes of cells within the drug product, each of which plays a different role in responding to tumour cells. In particular, ALA-101 CAR-iNKT cells were separated based on whether or not they produced CD4 on their surface (CD4+ vs CD4-). Cells negative for CD4 (CD4-) were better able to kill target tumour cells via the CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR). In contrast, CD4+ cells proliferated faster in response to CD19+ tumour cells. The two groups of cells also produced a different cytokine response in response to CAR activation.
The outcomes of these studies have shown encouraging results, supporting the potential benefit of having diverse subsets among CAR19-iNKT cells for treating CD19+ cancers. Arovella’s proprietary iNKT manufacturing method is designed to maintain the highly cytotoxic CD4- population, thus maintaining a healthy balance of cells with different mechanisms of responding to tumour cells.
A copy of the poster abstract can be found at the following link:
https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/20272/presentation/6025
