Eureka launches phase 1/2 trial of novel T-cell therapy for liver cancer
August 7, 2019
Eureka Therapeutics has initiated a phase 1/2 clinical trial of its ET140202 Artemis T-cell therapy for the treatment of liver cancer, according to a press release.
The company will evaluate ET140202 in combination with its Artemis antibody T-cell receptor platform that was engineered with human TCR-mimic antibody to target an alpha fetoprotein-peptide/HLA-A2 complex on hepatocellular cancer cells.
“Traditional immunotherapy such as checkpoint inhibitors releases the breaks on the immune system, which allows it to sometimes attack the tumor but can also lead to attacks on other parts of the human body,” Daneng Li, MD, principal investigator of the ongoing study and a medical oncologist at City of Hope in California, said in the release. “This approach engineers immune cells to directly attack a protein that is expressed on liver cancer. We are trying to individualize treatment for patients with advanced liver cancer.”
Previous studies have demonstrated a favorable safety profile with no observed cytokine release syndrome or drug-related neurotoxicity in treated patients.
Patients selected for the phase 1/2 trial have metastatic or locally advanced inoperable liver cancer who are incapable of tolerating at least one line of treatment for their disease.
“We are pleased to work with City of Hope on bringing ET140202 therapy to patients with advanced HCC,” Cheng Liu, MD, PhD, founder and CEO of Eureka Therapeutics, said. “Our approach has been to use our Artemis T-cell platform with higher target specificity to address the safety and other challenges in the treatment of solid tumors. HCC is a devastating disease, and we are delighted that City of Hope is using their broad expertise to potentially accelerate our efforts and provide additional opportunities to combat this and other diseases.”