Celldex Presents Emerging MerTK Antibody Program at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s 33rd Annual Meeting
November 10 2018 - 8:01AM
Antibody technology provides an exciting
new approach to enhance innate immune function in
cancer
Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) presented data from the
Company’s MerTK antibody program in a poster session today at the
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer's (SITC) 33rd Annual Meeting.
MerTK is emerging as a promising target for cancer immunotherapy.
Its expression in innate immune cells is believed to negatively
regulate immune responses and genetic removal of MerTK renders mice
resistant to some tumors.
“MerTK has been described as an immune checkpoint in
macrophages, dendritic cells and other immune cells,” said Tibor
Keler, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
of Celldex Therapeutics. “Through our significant discovery effort,
we have identified two unique antibodies that modulate this pathway
resulting in profound levels of cytokine and chemokine production,
and importantly we have developed preclinical models that support
the premise that antibody modulation of MerTK can lead to antitumor
responses.”
As detailed in the presentation, Celldex developed a large panel
of antibodies to MerTK and investigated their ability to enhance
activation of innate immune cells. Two lead candidate human
anti-MerTK antibodies were then selected based on their potent
induction of cytokines from human macrophages, dendritic cells, and
monocytes. Treatment of dendritic cells with the MerTK antibodies
led to production of a broad array of pro-inflammatory cytokines
and chemokines. Isolated peripheral blood monocytes were found to
express high levels of MerTK and were similarly activated by the
MerTK
antibodies. Emerging
proof of concept data was established in preclinical models. Using
a surrogate anti-mouse MerTK antibody, similar increases in the
levels of cytokines were observed in the blood of mice shortly
after treatment with the antibody. The anti-mouse MerTK antibody
led to increased survival when dosed alone or in combination with a
PD-1 inhibitor in a colon cancer model. To test the lead clinical
candidates, which bind to human and not mouse MerTK, Celldex
generated human MerTK transgenic mice that were shown to
appropriately express and regulate human MerTK on macrophages. This
will now allow testing of the anti-human MerTK mAbs in inflammation
and tumor models. Collectively, the data support that anti-MerTK
mAbs can modulate MerTK activity consistent with its role as a
negative immune regulator and provide an exciting new approach to
enhance innate immune function in cancer.
Celldex is currently completing the preclinical studies for
selection of the lead candidate to advance into development
activities. These studies include investigating the antitumor
effect of combinations with Celldex’s immunotherapy product
candidates.
About Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.Celldex is
developing targeted therapeutics to address devastating diseases
for which available treatments are inadequate. Our pipeline
includes immunotherapies and other targeted biologics derived from
a broad set of complementary technologies which have the ability to
engage the human immune system and/or directly inhibit tumors to
treat specific types of cancer or other diseases. Visit
www.celldex.com.
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Company ContactSarah CavanaughSenior Vice
President, Corporate Affairs & AdministrationCelldex
Therapeutics, Inc.(781) 433-3161scavanaugh@celldex.com
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