Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. has recently revealed the 1^st pre-clinical data of the anti-CCR8 FPA157 program. The pre-clinical results were presented at the SITC (Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer)’s 35^th Anniversary Annual Meeting and Pre-Conference Programs. The company is known for developing and discovering innovative protein therapeutics to enhance the lives of patients suffering from serious diseases.

FPA157 is a monoclonal antibody that targets CCR8, which has been designed to enhance the ADCC (antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity) as well as reduce the T-regulatory cell population in the tumor environment. Tregs can lower the level of anti-tumoral responses and function through various suppressive mechanisms. The antibody is a part of Five Prime’s immune-oncology antibody pipeline, which is under several IND-enabling studies.

The poster of the data, ‘Development of FPA157, an anti-CCR8 depleting antibody to preferentially eliminate the tumor-infiltrating T-regulatory (T-reg) cells’ was revealed in the late-breaker liver question & answer session. Important highlights from the poster include:

• High restriction of CCR8 expression to Treg cells within the tumor
• Demonstration of anti-CCR8 antibody treatment from the pre-clinical studies, which depletes the CCR8+ Tregs in tumor micro-environment while sparing the peripheral Treg subsets
• Development of strong anti-tumor memory responses via anti-CCR8 treatment
• Potent NK (natural killer) cell-dependent CCR8+ target cell killing by using FPA157

As per the statement made by VP of Research, Andrew Rankin, Ph.D., the pre-clinical date from the FPA157 program suggest that the selective regulatory T cell depletion within the tumor, without affecting the peripheral Tregs, can be a promising therapeutic pathway to pursue. The recent announcement marks the 1^st information shared publicly by Five Prime about its CCR8 inhibitor antibody in its immune-oncology pipeline. The company has expressed its excitement at further examining the FPA157 potential in the clinic.

Two live Q&A sessions will be held on 11^th November and 13^th November, with the poster author, Associate Director of Immuno-Oncology Research, Edwina Naik Ph.D.

Source credit:

https://investor.fiveprime.com/news-releases/news-release-details/five-prime-presents-first-preclinical-data-anti-ccr8-antibody