Equillium Announces Poster Presentation at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer
November 12 2024 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Dual and synergistic signaling of IL-15 and
IL-21 robustly augments NK and CD8 T cell responses
Highlights importance of dual inhibition or
activation for therapeutic approaches
Equillium Inc. (Nasdaq: EQ), a clinical-stage biotechnology
company leveraging a deep understanding of immunobiology to develop
novel therapeutics to treat severe autoimmune and inflammatory
disorders, today announced that a poster was presented over the
weekend at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy
of Cancer. The conference took place at the George R. Brown
Convention Center in Houston, Texas from November 6 to 10,
2024.
“These data provide deeper insights into the dual and
synergistic signaling of IL-15 and IL-21 that drives aggressive T
and NK cell responses that promote the cytolytic activity and
interferon gamma production observed in multiple inflammatory
diseases,” said Dr. Stephen Connelly, chief scientific officer at
Equillium. “As such, in the context of treating inflammatory
disease, or augmenting anti-tumor responses, it would be optimal to
inhibit or activate both cytokines in a single agent and is a focus
of the multi-cytokine platform at Equillium.”
Title: Interleukin (IL)-15 and IL-21 synergistically enhance NK
and CD8+ T cell responses Presenting Author: Phoi Tiet, Senior
Research Associate, Equillium, Inc. Poster Number: 908
Key Highlights, Summaries & Conclusions from
Presentation:
- Synergistic signaling of IL-15 and IL-21 enhanced markers of
activity including CD25, PD-1, Tim-3 and ICOS, in addition to
increased production of granzyme A, granzyme B and perforin,
indicating that these two cytokines play important roles in
activation, development, and survival of NK and CD8+ T cells.
- IL-15 and IL-21 cooperatively amplified CD8+T and NK cytolytic
activities and IFNγ production, suggesting that targeting these two
pathways can amplify cell-based immunity.
- Preliminary evaluation of IL-15 and IL-21 in an antigen-based T
cell exhaustion model described here suggests that the combination
of the two cytokines has a modest effect on reversing the phenotype
and function of terminally exhausted CD8+ T cells as shown by the
increase in the percentage of TCF-1 positive cells, decrease in the
percentage of TOX positive cells, and increase the percentage of
polyfunctional cells.
- These results indicate that the combination of IL-15 and IL-21
robustly augments NK and CD8 T cell activity. The ability to not
only boost cytolytic function of naïve and effector cells but to
partially rescue the exhausted phenotype of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells
is a promising therapeutic approach and addresses the challenges of
immuno-oncology.
The poster presentation is available under the Multi-Cytokine
Inhibition tab on the Presentations page of the Technology section
on the corporate website.
About Multi-Cytokine Platform and Multi-Cytokine Inhibitors
EQ101 & EQ302
Our proprietary multi-cytokine platform generates rationally
designed composite peptides that selectively block key cytokines at
the shared receptor level targeting pathogenic cytokine
redundancies and synergies while preserving non-pathogenic
signaling. This approach is expected to avoid the broad
immuno-suppression and off-target safety liabilities that may be
associated with other therapeutic classes, such as Janus kinase
inhibitors. Many immune-mediated diseases are driven by the same
combination of dysregulated cytokines, and we believe identifying
the key cytokines for these diseases will allow us to target and
develop customized treatment strategies for multiple autoimmune and
inflammatory diseases.
Current platform assets include EQ101, a clinical stage,
first-in-class, selective, tri-specific inhibitor of IL-2, IL-9,
and IL-15 for intravenous and subcutaneous delivery and EQ302, a
preclinical stage, first-in-class, selective, bi-specific inhibitor
of IL-15 and IL-21 for oral delivery.
About Equillium
Equillium is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging a
deep understanding of immunobiology to develop novel therapeutics
to treat severe autoimmune and inflammatory disorders with high
unmet medical need. The company’s pipeline consists of the
following novel first-in-class immunomodulatory assets and product
platform targeting immuno-inflammatory pathways. Itolizumab: a
monoclonal antibody that targets the CD6-ALCAM signaling pathway
which plays a central role in the modulation of effector T cells
that drive a number of immuno-inflammatory diseases; currently
under evaluation in a Phase 3 clinical study of patients with acute
graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and announced positive data from
a Phase 1b clinical study of patients with lupus/lupus nephritis in
April 2024. Equillium acquired rights to itolizumab through an
exclusive partnership with Biocon Limited, who also provides
commercial manufacturing for the product. EQ101: a selective
tri-specific cytokine inhibitor targeting IL-2, IL-9, and IL-15;
recently announced positive results from a Phase 2 proof-of-concept
clinical study of patients with alopecia areata. EQ302: an orally
delivered, selective bi-specific cytokine inhibitor targeting IL-15
and IL-21 at pre-clinical stage.
For more information, visit www.equilliumbio.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release regarding matters
that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of
words such as "anticipate", "believe", “could”, “continue”,
"expect", "estimate", “may”, "plan", "outlook", “future” and
"project" and other similar expressions that predict or indicate
future events or trends or that are not statements of historical
matters. Because such statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties, many of which are outside of Equillium’s control,
actual results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. Risks that contribute
to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include:
Equillium’s ability to execute its plans and strategies; risks
related to performing clinical studies; whether the results from
clinical studies will validate and support the safety and efficacy
of Equillium’s product candidates. These and other risks and
uncertainties are described more fully under the caption "Risk
Factors" and elsewhere in Equillium's filings and reports, which
may be accessed for free by visiting the Securities and Exchange
Commission’s website at www.sec.gov and on Equillium’s website
under the heading “Investors.” Investors should take such risks
into account and should not rely on forward-looking statements when
making investment decisions. All forward-looking statements
contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which
they were made. Equillium undertakes no obligation to update such
statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist
after the date on which they were made, except as required by
law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241112779037/en/
Investor Contact Michael Moore Vice President, Investor
Relations & Corporate Communications 619-302-4431
ir@equilliumbio.com
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