MacroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ:MGNX) has announced the publication of research in the journal of Science Translational medicine that supports the company’s pivotal flotetuzumab study in early refractory acute myeloid leukemia patients.
The study sought to establish differences in immune gene expression
The research describes the gene expression tumor microenvironment signature in acute leukemia patients that is related to chemotherapy resistance and flotetuzumab response. Flotetuzumab is a bi-specific clinical CD123xXCD3 DART molecule the company is currently developing for treating main induction failure as well as refractory AML. Cancer Immunotherapy Professor Sergio Rutella led the study.
Several bone marrow samples were analyzed in the study from different adult and pediatric groups of AML patients. The aim was to establish the difference in expression of the immune gene in the tumor bone marrow microenvironment in all the age groups as well as molecular subtypes. According to data, the inflammatory signature expression associated with the INF-y gene was predictive to chemotherapy resistance and possible flotetuzumab responses in early/primary relapsed or refractory AML.
Flotetuzumab study offers insight on refractory AML
MacroGenics’ SVP and Chief Scientific Officer Ezio Bonvini indicated that AML patients that have relapsed at the onset or failed the initial induction therapy following the initial response reflect a challenging treatment patient population. Ezio added that the study’s data offers a molecular basis for understanding why refractory AML patients to chemotherapy may show immune response with flotetuzumab. Therefore this will offer a rationale for enhancing molecule development in the expected vital study for the AML patient group that has unmet medical needs.
Flotetuzumab recognizes both XD3 and CD123 that is overexpressed on the malignant cells in acute myeloid leukemia as well as other malignancies. The DART molecule’s action mechanism is the ability to redirect T lymphocytes to do away with the overexpressing CD123 cells. To attain this, flotetuzumab combines a section of an antibody that recognizes CD3, the activating molecule that T cells express. The company presented data from Phase1/2 flotetuzumab clinical study last year in December at the American Society of Haematology Annual Meeting.
