Selective depletion of tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells with BAY 3375968, a novel Fc-optimized anti-CCR8 antibody.
Clin Exp Med
; 24(1): 122, 2024 Jun 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38856863
ABSTRACT
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are known to facilitate tumor progression by suppressing CD8+ T cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME), thereby also hampering the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). While systemic depletion of Tregs can enhance antitumor immunity, it also triggers undesirable autoimmune responses. Therefore, there is a need for therapeutic agents that selectively target Tregs within the TME without affecting systemic Tregs. In this study, as shown also by others, the chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 8 (CCR8) was found to be predominantly expressed on Tregs within the TME of both humans and mice, representing a unique target for selective depletion of tumor-residing Tregs. Based on this, we developed BAY 3375968, a novel anti-human CCR8 antibody, along with respective surrogate anti-mouse CCR8 antibodies, and demonstrated their in vitro mode-of-action through induction of potent antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and phagocytosis (ADCP) activities. In vivo, anti-mouse CCR8 antibodies effectively depleted Tregs within the TME primarily via ADCP, leading to increased CD8+ T cell infiltration and subsequent tumor growth inhibition across various cancer models. This monotherapeutic efficacy was significantly enhanced in combination with ICIs. Collectively, these findings suggest that CCR8 targeting represents a promising strategy for Treg depletion in cancer therapies. BAY 3375968 is currently under investigation in a Phase I clinical trial (NCT05537740).
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory
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Receptors, CCR8
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Tumor Microenvironment
Limits:
Animals
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Female
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Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Clin Exp Med
Journal subject:
MEDICINA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: