Mestag Presents Preclinical Data at AACR on its M300 Program, a Conditionally Active LTBR Agonist Designed to Induce Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Tumors

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, April 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mestag Therapeutics (“Mestag”), a biotech company harnessing new insights into fibroblast-immune interactions, is today presenting data on its M300 program in a late-breaking poster session at the 2024 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting. The poster titled “Conditionally active, therapeutic lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTBR) agonist bispecific antibodies for induction of tertiary lymphoid structures in the treatment of solid tumors” is being presented as part of the “Late-Breaking Research: Immunology 2” poster session (9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PT, poster section 52; board number 11).

The presented data demonstrate that Mestag’s bispecific antibody co-engages fibroblast activated protein (FAP) and LTBR to conditionally activate LTBR and induce Tertiary Lymphoid Structures (TLS) in the tumor. In vivo data showed potent monotherapy efficacy as well as tumor regression in combination with tumor antigen or a checkpoint inhibitor.

Ray Jupp, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Mestag Therapeutics, said, “TLS is an exciting new area of anti-cancer immunology. There is now extensive evidence that the presence of these structures plays a critical role in anti-tumor immunity and better survival outcomes in patients. We are excited to share that M300 conditionally induces TLS formation in hard-to-treat tumor models representative of low antigen, cold human tumors, an area of significant unmet need. We look forward to bringing this to patients as soon as possible.”

About Mestag’s M300 Program

M300 is a first-in-class bispecific antibody designed to conditionally induce the formation of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures (TLS) in solid tumors. TLS are aggregates of immune cells that can form in tumor tissue as part of our bodies’ natural anti-cancer mechanisms, and drive powerful immune responses by recruiting, educating, and activating new anti-tumor T and B-cells. Fibroblast populations play a key role in the induction and maintenance of TLSs. TLSs in tumors are strongly predictive of both improved patient outcomes across solid tumor types and better response to therapy.

About Mestag Therapeutics

Mestag harnesses new insights into fibroblast-immune interactions to develop impactful treatments for patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases. We are progressing a pipeline of sophisticated first-in-class antibodies designed to direct and drive the immune system using known and emerging fibroblast-immune biology for a distinctly differentiated class of therapeutics.

Our pipeline comprises the M300 program, leveraging new understanding of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in solid tumors, and their role in driving improved patient outcomes; the M402 program, targeting a stromal checkpoint to dampen down the activation of specific immune cell subsets in inflammatory disease; and earlier programs in discovery stage. Separately, in a collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, we are also identifying novel targets for future therapies.

Our founding investigators comprise global experts in inflammatory disease, cancer, computational biology and fibroblast biology from the University of Oxford, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. We are supported by leading life science investors SV Health Investors, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Forbion, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Northpond Ventures.

Mestag is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and in 2021 was recognized on the Fierce 15 list of innovative biotechnology companies.