Medigene AG: AACR data show characteristics of Medigene's lead TCR candidate against solid tumors

Medigene AG: AACR data show characteristics of Medigene's lead TCR candidate against solid tumors

Poster presentation at virtual AACR Annual Meeting, 10-15 April 2021

Planegg/Martinsried (pta/10.04.2021/14:30) Medigene AG (Medigene, FSE: MDG1, Prime Standard), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company focusing on the development of T cell immunotherapies, today presents promising pre-clinical data on its lead PRAME-specific, HLA-A2-restricted T cell receptor (TCR) candidate "TCR-4" for future T cell receptor-modified T cell (TCR-T) therapy against solid tumors at the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting (AACR) 2021. The poster can be found on Medigene's website: https://www.medigene.com/technologies/abstracts

TCR-4 - high natural in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor reactivity and specificity

TCR-4 is a non-mutated TCR isolated from a healthy donor that, in the context of HLA-A2, specifically recognizes a peptide stemming from the PRAME protein, an antigen of the cancer-testis-antigen family. In cell culture experiments no cross-recognition of peptides on other HLA-types or off-target recognition of critical healthy tissues was observed. Also, there was no off-target toxicity towards slightly modified peptides, which were expressed and presented by target cells. In a skin cancer mouse model, all mice treated with TCR-Ts expressing TCR-4 survived the observation period of 67 days and the cancer was well controlled. Addition of the PD1-41BB switch receptor improved the TCR-T cells' effector function in a challenging in vitro environment with repeated exposure to tumor cells mimicking the real-life situation in solid cancers.

Prof. Dolores Schendel, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer at Medigene: "TCR-4 is another successful lead candidate from our high-throughput TCR generation process. It shows high natural affinity for the PRAME target demonstrated by potent preclinical in vitro and in vivo efficacy. Combining this TCR with our PD1-41BB switch receptor should result in a very promising TCR-T product, especially for the treatment of solid tumors. We are looking forward to present further in vivo data of TCR-4 in combination with the PD1-41BB switch receptor in the near future."