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Preclinical Data on NT-I7 Published in Clinical Cancer Research

2022-01-24

NeoImmuneTech, Inc.  (KOSDAQ: 950220), a clinical-stage T cell-focused biopharmaceutical company, today announced the publication of preclinical data evaluating the company’s lead asset NT-I7 (efineptakin alfa), a novel T cell amplifier, in mouse models of glioblastoma (GBM). The data comes from a publication titled “Long-acting recombinant human interleukin-7, NT-I7, increases cytotoxic CD8 T cells and enhances survival in mouse glioma models,” in the Clinical Cancer Research journal. The paper was published in collaboration with lead author Dr. Jian Li Campian, M.D., Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic and Principal Investigator of this study, along with additional authors from NeoImmuneTech. These data show that NT-I7, in combination with radiation therapy, significantly prolonged survival in two glioma models dependent on the NT-I7-driven increase of CD8 T cells.

This study utilized a murine model of glioblastoma, in which one dose of NT-I7 significantly boosted lymphocyte levels in the blood, lymphoid organs and tumor and enhanced the anti-tumor response in animal. When NT-I7 was combined with radiation therapy, this translated to a significant improvement in mouse survival; the addition of temozolomide (TMZ) offered no additional survival improvement.

“The standard of care for glioblastoma patients is radiation and TMZ, a treatment regimen which causes severe prolonged lymphopenia that is associated with lower patient survival,” said Dr. Campian. “NT-I7 demonstrated the ability to correct this treatment-related lymphopenia in our study, and this potential is extremely promising in the pursuit to improve outcomes for patients with glioblastoma.”

In addition, data showed that NT-I7 promoted an inflamed tumor microenvironment by significantly increasing the CD8 to Treg ratio, and enhanced the anti-tumor response by increasing the infiltration of IFNγ-expressing T cells in the tumor. While chemoradiation caused a notable decrease in the number of CD4 and CD8 T cells in the lymph nodes, the addition of NT-I7 not only restored these numbers but in some cases surpassed the levels seen in untreated controls.

NT-I7 is currently under evaluation for the treatment of glioblastoma in an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial (NCT03687957).
 
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