Category Archives: Immunology

Immunology

Friend of Winnipeg plane crash victim shocked by news the jet may have been shot down – CTV News

WINNIPEG -- A Winnipegger who knows one of the victims aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is reacting to new information the plane may have mistakenly been shot down by an Iranian missile.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Thursday afternoon the Canadian government has intelligence from multiple sources, including its allies and its own intelligence.

The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, said Trudeau. This may have been unintentional.

The news left Jude Uzonna shaken. The University of Manitoba professor advised Forough Khadem when she was completing her PhD in immunology -- Khadem was among the 176 people on board the plane.

How could that happen, said Uzonna. Thats terrible. Thats terrible. And it makes me so upset if this is really true.

Uzonna said he had exchanged text messages with Khadem just before her flight and she expressed concern about the tensions between Iran and the U.S.

(Source: Jude Uzonna)

Uzonna is remembering Khadem for her affable personality and knowledge in the field of immunology.

This is somebody with an infectious smile and infectious optimism, he said. There is nobody that Forough crosses his or her path that would never want to know who is this lady.

Humanity has lost one of its greatest, one of its finest,

Counsellors are meeting with students, faculty and staff to help everyone cope with the loss.

More here:
Friend of Winnipeg plane crash victim shocked by news the jet may have been shot down - CTV News

Immunology

Not enough parents in Lancashire are vaccinating their babies – Lancashire Post

Babies in Lancashire could be at risk of catching potentially deadly illnesses as uptake rates for important jabs fall below safe levels.

The British Society for Immunology has urged the new government to deliver on its promise to develop the UKs first vaccine strategy to protect communities against nasty diseases.

Young children should get the so-called six-in-one jab, which protects against six serious infections including polio, whooping cough and diphtheria, in the first few months of their lives.

But new Public Health England data shows that just 93.2 per cent of those in Lancashire who had their first birthday in the six months to September were vaccinated.

It means 400 children missed out, with the area falling slightly short of the 95 per cent rate recommended by the World Health Organisation to prevent outbreaks.

The uptake rate for the North West over the period was 92.2 per cent, while the figure across England stood at 92.1 per cent.

The British Society for Immunology said the uptake rate across England for the six-in-one vaccine among one year olds has averaged around 92 per cent over the past year.

Low levels of vaccination coverage matter as it means these diseases have the potential to spread within our communities, infecting unvaccinated people, with young babies and people with compromised immune systems particularly at risk, said Dr Doug Brown, the groups chief executive.

We urge the new government to deliver on its promise to develop the UKs first vaccine strategy and to fully fund immunisation services to ensure our communities are protected against these preventable diseases.

But he also urged parents to make sure their children get the jabs.

He added: If you are worried your child hasnt received all the doses of the six-in-one vaccine, do make an appointment at your GP surgery.

Its much better to get your child vaccinated than risk them catching one of these nasty diseases.

Babies should have three rounds of the six-in-one vaccination at eight, 12 and 16 weeks of age.

It helps them develop a strong immunity to diphtheria, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenza type b, polio, tetanus and whopping cough all described by the NHS as serious childhood diseases.

Health minister Nicola Blackwood said: Every child must be vaccinated against dangerous and potentially fatal diseases. Vaccine uptake is very high, at around 90 per cent, for most childhood vaccines, but we are determined to drive rates up even further.

"Our new vaccination strategy, published in the new year, will consider a range of approaches to improve uptake.

See original here:
Not enough parents in Lancashire are vaccinating their babies - Lancashire Post

Immunology

DBV Technologies Reports Positive Three-Year, Long-Term Data from the PEOPLE Phase III Open-Label Extension Study of Viaskin Peanut in Children with…

Montrouge, France, January 8, 2020

DBV Technologies Reports Positive Three-Year, Long-Term Data from the PEOPLE Phase III Open-Label Extension Study of Viaskin Peanut in Children with Peanut Allergy

Patients demonstrated durable, long-term clinical benefit with an additional two years of treatment

Low discontinuations due to adverse events observed

Study represents the largest long-term peanut allergy immunotherapy trial to date, with high compliance enabling extended study participation

DBV Technologies (the Company) (Euronext: DBV ISIN: FR0010417345 Nasdaq Stock Market: DBVT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced positive topline results of the three-year, open-label extension of the Phase III PEPITES trial (PEOPLE) evaluating the long-term efficacy and safety of investigational Viaskin Peanut in peanut-allergic children ages 4 to 11 years. The results demonstrate long-term clinical benefit as shown by an increase in eliciting dose (ED), which may decrease the chance of reacting to an accidental peanut exposure. After three years, 75.9% (107/141) of patients had increased their ED from baseline, and 51.8% (73/141) of patients reached an ED of at least 1,000 mg peanut protein by year three.

These new long-term data support the overall clinical benefit of Viaskin Peanut that weve observed to date in Phase II and III clinical trials. We are particularly pleased to see that approximately three out of four patients showed an increase in their eliciting dose over three years, regardless of their individual baseline, with roughly 1 in 7 patients able to consume 5,444 mg peanut protein without reacting during the Month 36 oral food challenge, said Dr. David Fleischer, Principal Investigator of PEPITES and PEOPLE, Director, Allergy and Immunology Center and Section Head, Childrens Hospital Colorado. Most peanut-allergic children react to a single peanut (300 mg of peanut protein) or less, with some reacting to as little as 1 mg, leading many children and families to experience constant fear of accidental exposure, loss of normalcy and decreased quality of life. These new data provide further evidence that Viaskin Peanut may reduce the risk of reaction from accidental exposure by increasing threshold reactivity through a treatment option that could be safe and convenient.

The PEOPLE study is an ongoing open-label extension study evaluating the long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of Viaskin Peanut 250 g in patients who have completed the Phase III PEPITES trial. Of the 213 patients who were randomized in the active treatment arm of PEPITES and completed the 12-month trial, 198 patients opted to enter the PEOPLE study (safety population). Of these patients, 148 were considered completers after 36 months and 141 patients completed all treatment according to the study protocol without major deviations. Efficacy data were analyzed from these 141 patients (per-protocol).

Topline results from PEOPLE support the long-term tolerability and clinical benefit of Viaskin Peanut, demonstrating desensitization over 36 months of treatment. After 36 months, 51.8% (73/141) of patients reached an ED of at least 1,000 mg peanut protein, an increase relative to Month 12, 40.4% (57/141). In addition, 13.5% (19/141) of patients completed the food challenge without meeting stopping criteria at 36 months (cumulative dose of 5,444 mg). At Month 36, the mean cumulative reactive dose (CRD) was 1,768.8 mg (median 944 mg) compared to 223.8 mg (median 144 mg) at baseline.

The safety profile of Viaskin Peanut was consistent with that observed in the clinical program to date in over 1,000 patients. During PEOPLE, the most common adverse events were mild to moderate skin reactions localized to the administration site and there was no epinephrine use deemed related to treatment. No treatment related serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported. One patient experienced one case of mild anaphylaxis that was determined by the investigator to be possibly related to treatment and resolved without treatment. Treatment compliance remained high throughout the study at a mean of 98% over three years of treatment.

Exploratory analyses suggest Viaskin Peanut may offer sustained effect even after a period without treatment. All participants who reached an ED 1,000 mg at Month 36 were eligible to continue the study for two additional months without treatment while maintaining a peanut-free diet. A further double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge to determine ED was administered at the end of this period (Month 38). The analysis showed that 77.8% (14/18) of the children who completed the oral food challenge at Month 38 maintained desensitization with an ED 1,000 mg.

Harnessing the important immune properties of the skin, epicutaneous immunotherapy represents a potentially unique mechanism of action that may support the sustained desensitization observed in this study even after a period without treatment. These data further advance our understanding of the profile of Viaskin Peanut, which is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and may offer a simple, once daily, non-invasive treatment option for children living with peanut allergy in the second half of 2020, if approved, said Dr. Pharis Mohideen, Chief Medical Officer of DBV Technologies. Importantly, we would like to thank the children, families and investigators for participating in this study, the largest long-term trial in this underserved disease.

The Company plans to present full study results at future medical congresses as well as submit for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

About PEOPLEThe PEOPLE study is an open-label extension of the Phase III PEPITES trial designed to evaluate the long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of Viaskin Peanut 250 g (NCT03013517). Participants who completed the 12-month study period of PEPITES were eligible to enroll in PEOPLE. Patients who were randomized to active treatment in PEPITES are eligible to receive up to four additional years of treatment, and those previously receiving placebo are eligible to receive up to five years of treatment.

The study evaluates the eliciting dose after three years (Month 36) of active treatment using a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge (DBPCFC). The starting dose of each challenge is 1 mg of peanut protein and escalates to the highest dose of 2,000 mg peanut protein; possibly repeated once to reach a maximum total cumulative dose of 5,444 mg peanut protein. For the next DBPCFCs after four and five years, the starting dose of each challenge is 10 mg of peanut protein and escalates to the highest dose of 3,000 mg peanut protein; possibly repeated once to reach a maximum total cumulative dose of 6,440 mg peanut protein.

The analysis also includes exploratory assessments of safety parameters, immune biomarkers such as immunoglobulin E (IgE) and immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4), and sustained desensitization following a two-month period without treatment.

About PEPITESThePeanutEPIT Efficacy andSafety Study (PEPITES) was a global, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Viaskin Peanut 250 g in children ages 4 to 11 years (NCT02636699). PEPITES was conducted in 31 centers across North America (Canada and the United States), Germany, Ireland and Australia.

Eligible patients were aged 4-11 years at screening with physician-diagnosed peanut allergy, currently following a strict peanut-free diet. Other key inclusion criteria were peanut-specific IgE >0.7 kUA/L, a peanut skin prick test with a largest wheal diameter 6 mm (children 4-5 years) or 8 mm (children 6 years) at screening, and an ED (the single highest dose at which a patient exhibited objective signs/symptoms of an immediate hypersensitivity reaction) of 300 mg peanut protein based on a DBPCFC.

PRACTALL,the joint American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) and European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) published food challenge methodology that defines strict, 30-minute intervals for peanut protein dosing, was used to evaluate sensitivity to peanut at baseline and exit.Challenges were stopped when patients exhibited clear, objective symptoms based on a pre-specified symptom scoring scale. A Good Manufacturing Practice food challenge matrix was used for all peanut protein and placebo food challenges.

During PEPITES, patients responses were assessed using DBPCFCs. Patients were randomized 2:1 to receive either Viaskin Peanut 250 g or placebo for 12 months. The primary endpoint was based on a responder analysis after 12 months of treatment with Viaskin Peanut 250 g. For patients with a baseline peanut protein ED equal to or less than 10 mg, a responder was defined as a patient with a peanut protein ED equal to or greater than 300 mg of peanut protein after 12 months of treatment. For patients with a baseline ED greater than 10 mg, a responder was defined as a patient with a peanut protein ED equal to or greater than 1,000 mg of peanut protein after 12 months of treatment.

As a secondary efficacy endpoint, CRD was also evaluated in PEPITES to establish the total quantity of peanut protein that triggers patient reactions at Month 12 of active treatment versus placebo. Serological markers were also measured at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months in order to characterize the immunological changes in patients.

During the study, investigators relied on the commonly used National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) definition of anaphylaxis, which has been shown to be highly sensitive but only moderately specific in diagnosing anaphylaxis, in an attempt to capture as many potential reactions as possible.

Two hundred thirteen of the 238 patients randomized to the peanut-patch and 107 of the 118 patients randomized to the placebo-patch completed the study. After 12 months of therapy, patients treated with Viaskin Peanut showed a statistically significant improvement in the ED of peanut required to provoke an allergic reaction at food challenge compared with placebo. After 12 months of treatment, we observed that 35.3% of patients on Viaskin Peanut 250 g were responders, compared to 13.6% of patients in the placebo group (treatment difference = 21.7%; 95% CI = 12.4% - 29.8%; p<0.001). An increase in the CRD was also observed between the treatment and placebo groups (nominal p-value<0.001) after 12 months. The median CRD of patients in the treatment group increased from 144 mg at baseline to 444 mg at Month 12, compared with no improvement in the placebo group.

There were no cases of severe anaphylaxis, and only four of 238 patients (1.7%) dropped out due to treatment-emergent adverse events. A low rate of treatment-related epinephrine use was reported (2.9% treatment group vs. 0.8% placebo group). Ten cases in eight Viaskin Peanut patients (3.4%) of possibly or probably treatment-related anaphylaxis occurred; all were classified as mild or moderate without evidence of cardiovascular, neurologic, or respiratory compromise. Six of these ten cases were treated with epinephrine, and five of the eight patients continued on Viaskin Peanut in the study.

About DBV TechnologiesDBV Technologies is developing Viaskin, an investigational proprietary technology platform with broad potential applications in immunotherapy. Viaskin is based on epicutaneous immunotherapy, or EPIT, DBVs method of delivering biologically active compounds to the immune system through intact skin. With this new class of self-administered and non-invasive product candidates, the Company is dedicated to safely transforming the care of food allergic patients, for whom there are no approved treatments. DBVs food allergies programs include ongoing clinical trials of Viaskin Peanut and Viaskin Milk, and preclinical development of Viaskin Egg. DBV is also pursuing a human proof-of-concept clinical trial of Viaskin Milk for the treatment of Eosinophilic Esophagitis, and exploring potential applications of its platform in vaccines and other immune diseases. DBV Technologies has global headquarters in Montrouge, France and offices in Bagneux, France, and North American operations in Summit, NJ and New York, NY. The Companys ordinary shares are traded on segment B of Euronext Paris (Ticker: DBV, ISIN code: FR0010417345), part of the SBF120 index, and the Companys ADSs (each representing one-half of one ordinary share) are traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (Ticker: DBVT).

Forward Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the potential of the EPIT platform and Viaskin Peanut as a treatment for peanut-allergic children. These forward-looking statements are not promises or guarantees and involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described or projected herein include risk associated with uncertainties associated generally with research and development, clinical trials and related regulatory reviews and approvals. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other risks can be found in the Companys regulatory filings with the French Autorit des Marchs Financiers and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the Companys Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise, except as required by law.

DBV Investor Relations Contact Sara Blum ShermanSenior Director, Investor Relations & Strategy+1212-271-0740sara.sherman@dbv-technologies.com

DBV Media Contact Joe BeckerVP, Global Corporate Communications +1646-650-3912joseph.becker@dbv-technologies.com

Read more from the original source:
DBV Technologies Reports Positive Three-Year, Long-Term Data from the PEOPLE Phase III Open-Label Extension Study of Viaskin Peanut in Children with...

Immunology

Assistant/Associate, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology job with UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY | 191835 – Times Higher Education…

Job Description

The Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS), UAE University, seeks candidates for a faculty position at the rank of Assistant/Associate Professor in Microbiology. We are particularly looking for an innovative investigator who has an established, or a clear potential to establish an independent research program in host-parasite interactions at the cellular and molecular level. Preference will be given to candidates with a strong background in computational and systems biology, genomics or bioinformatics. The College of Medicine operates an internationally recognized, integrated, problem/team-based learning curriculum and provides excellent research facilities. English is the language of instruction. Current research in the department focuses on cancer immunology, autoimmune diseases, antibiotic resistance, host-pathogen interactions, retroviral RNA packaging, dimerization and gene expression, EBV and its role in the pathogenesis of human diseases, and public health.

Minimum Qualification

The successful candidate must have a PhD or MD/PhD from an accredited institution.

Preferred Qualification

As above

Expected Skills/Rank/Experience

It is expected that the successful candidate will also have experience in teaching medical students, and postgraduate students. Importantly, candidates must demonstrate the potential to establish an independent and sustained research program in their area of expertise and be able to obtain peer-reviewed internal and external funding. International collaboration is encouraged.

Special Instructions to Applicant

Attach CV and publication list, names & contact information of 3 referees, and a cover letter describing research and teaching experience.

Division College of Medicine&Health Sciences

Department Microbiology - (CMHS)

Job Close Date open until filled

Job Category Academic - Faculty

Salary 28000-35000 UAE Dirhams per month, based on experience

Read the original:
Assistant/Associate, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology job with UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY | 191835 - Times Higher Education...

Immunology

Lava Therapeutics Appoints Immuno-Oncology Experts James Allison, Ph.D., and Padmanee Sharma, MD, Ph.D., to Advisory Board – BioSpace

Jan. 8, 2020 13:30 UTC

UTRECHT, Netherlands & PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Lava Therapeutics (LAVA) today announced that James P. Allison, Ph.D., a 2018 Nobel Prize recipient in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation, and Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., a scientific leader in oncology, specializing in renal, bladder and prostate cancer, have joined the companys Advisory Board.

We are thrilled to welcome Jim and Pam, two of the most respected leaders in the field of oncology, to our Advisory Board, said Steve Hurly, Chief Executive Officer of LAVA. We believe we are at the forefront of developing gamma-delta T cell engagers, which represents a novel class of potential treatments for a range of cancer indications. As we approach this next phase as a clinical-stage company, Jim and Pams collective insights and deep expertise will be invaluable, and we are excited to be collaborating with them.

Dr. Paul Parren, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D for LAVA added, Jims and Pams willingness to join LAVAs Advisory Board is a transformative event for our young company, as it strongly increases our potential for developing truly transformative cancer drugs based our exciting bispecific gamma-delta T cell engaging technology. We are pleased to have them on board and look forward to leveraging their expertise as we advance our programs.

Dr. James Allison Dr. Allison has spent his career studying the regulation of T cell responses. Dr. Allisons work led to the development of an antibody to human CTLA-4 called ipilimumab which became the first immune checkpoint blockade therapy ever approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The approval of ipilimumab cleared the path for the emerging field of immune checkpoint blockade therapy in the treatment of cancer. His current work is focused on improving immune checkpoint blockade therapies and identifying new targets to unleash the immune system and eradicate cancer. Dr. Allison is a member of the National Academies of Science and Medicine and is currently Regental Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology, the Vivian L. Smith Distinguished Chair in Immunology, the Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform and Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Padmanee Sharma Dr. Sharma is focused on understanding resistance mechanisms within the immune system that impact anti-tumor responses. For more than a decade, she has been a principal investigator for multiple clinical trials to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. Dr. Sharmas work on new pathways to treat prostate cancer implicated, for the first time in a human tumor, the checkpoint VISTA in inhibiting immune responses. In partnership with Dr. Allison, Dr. Sharma is currently exploring combinations of immunological therapies and targeted drugs in preclinical studies to treat a variety of cancers more effectively. Dr. Sharma is a professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology in the Division of Cancer Medicine, the T.C. and Jeanette Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology, the Scientific Director of the Immunotherapy Platform and the Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

About Lava Therapeutics, Inc. Lava Therapeutics proprietary platform is focused on developing next generation T cell engaging bispecific antibodies to treat cancer. Our first-in-class immuno-oncology approach specifically activates V9V2 T cells upon binding to a tumor target. LAVAs vision is to develop therapeutics for the curative treatment of cancer. Founded in 2016, LAVA has grown into a start-up company with a highly experienced antibody research and development team located in Utrecht, the Netherlands (Headquarters) and Philadelphia. http://www.lavatherapeutics.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200108005103/en/

Here is the original post:
Lava Therapeutics Appoints Immuno-Oncology Experts James Allison, Ph.D., and Padmanee Sharma, MD, Ph.D., to Advisory Board - BioSpace

Immunology

Cellectis: An Expert Review on Allogeneic CAR-T for Cancer Published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery – Yahoo Finance

Cellectis and World Experts Review New Avenue of Allogeneic CAR T-cells, Optimization and Promises in Oncology

Cellectis (Paris:ALCLS) (NASDAQ:CLLS) (Euronext Growth:ALCLS; Nasdaq:CLLS), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies based on gene-edited allogeneic CAR T-cells (UCART), announced today the publication of a review in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery by Prof. Stphane Depil1*, Dr. Philippe Duchateau2, Prof. Stephan Grupp3, Prof. Ghulam Mufti4 and Dr. Laurent Poirot2. The authors review the opportunities and challenges presented by universal allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies.

One of the most promising approaches in cancer treatment is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, in which part of the bodys own immunological defendors, T-cells, are redirected against cancerous cells after being engineered to express CARs. Since their initial development in the early 90s, CAR T-cells have evolved through several generations. The use of autologous (patient-derived) CAR T-cells has proven to be successful in treating people with certain blood cancers such as B-cell malignancies. However, autologous CAR T-cell therapy is not suitable for all patients, and it often requires a long and expensive manufacturing process since each treatment must be made individually for each patient.

Cellectis was the first company to develop and test an allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy in patients, where T-cells are derived from healthy donors. This gives rise to off-the-shelf product candidates which aim to be suitable for many patients as opposed to only a single person.

"We realized early on that refined gene-editing techniques were what was needed to take an allogeneic approach to CAR T-cell therapy," said Dr. Laurent Poirot, VP, Immunology Division, Cellectis. "Despite the complexity of this approach, we decided to follow this route because we are confident that it can provide the most impact for a maximum number of people living with severe cancers. This comprehensive review underlines just how much this technology has evolved in very little time. It also gives us exciting areas to explore as we continue to improve our product candidates."

Story continues

One of the major challenges in the allogeneic approach involves mitigating the risk of graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) a medical complication that can present itself in people that have received tissues or cells from another person. The review examines aspects of this challenge and helps weigh the pros and cons associated with the different methods used to create allogeneic CAR T-cells. It also outlines some of the gene-editing work that Cellectis has done in this area along with complementary approaches being taken by others in the field, such as using cells other than conventional T-cells, also known as alpha beta T-cells.

"Our immune system, including our T-cells, is incredibly sophisticated. We know that T-cells can now be retasked to successfully fight cancer. There are amazing approaches to gene editing that are driving progress towards the most safe and efficacious versions of allogeneic products. It is exciting to see these approaches applied to off the shelf CAR T-cell products," said Prof. Stephan Grupp, Chief of Cell Therapy and Transplant Section at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, and a member of Cellectis Clinical Advisory Board. "Im looking forward to seeing emerging clinical data as well as even newer approaches, as Cellectis expertise in gene-editing technology continues to transform CAR-T."

Off-the-shelf allogeneic CAR T cells: new development and current challenges

Stphane Depil1*, Philippe Duchateau2, Stephan Grupp3, Ghulam Mufti4, Laurent Poirot2

1Formerly Cellectis, now Centre Lon Brard and Centre de Recherche en Cancrologie de Lyon, 28 rue Laennec, 69008 Lyon, France2Cellectis, 8 rue de la Croix Jarry, 75013, Paris, France3Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Civic Center Blvd Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA4Kings College London and Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 9RS, United Kingdom

About CellectisCellectis is developing the first of its kind allogeneic approach for CAR-T therapies, pioneering the concept of off-the-shelf and ready-to-use gene-edited CAR-T cells to treat patients. As a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with over 20 years of expertise in gene editing, we are developing game-changer product candidates in immune-oncology. Utilizing TALEN, our gene editing technology, and PulseAgile, our pioneering electroporation system, we are harnessing the power of the immune system to target and eradicate cancer cells.

As part of our commitment to a cure, Cellectis remains dedicated to its goal of providing life-saving UCART product candidates to address unmet need for multiple cancers including B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and multiple myeloma (MM). Cellectis is listed on the Nasdaq (ticker: CLLS) and on Euronext Growth (ticker: ALCLS).

Cellectis headquarters are in Paris, France, with additional locations in New York, New York and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.cellectis.com.

Follow Cellectis on social media: @Cellectis, LinkedIn and YouTube.

TALEN is a registered trademark owned by Cellectis.

DisclaimerThis press release contains "forward-looking" statements that are based on our managements current expectations and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Further information on the risk factors that may affect company business and financial performance is included in Cellectis Annual Report on Form 20-F and the financial report (including the management report) for the year ended December 31, 2018 and subsequent filings Cellectis makes with the Securities Exchange Commission from time to time. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200106005969/en/

Contacts

Media:Jennifer Moore, VP of Communications, 917-580-1088, media@cellectis.comCaitlin Kasunich, KCSA Strategic Communications, 212-896-1241, ckasunich@kcsa.com

IR:Simon Harnest, VP of Corporate Strategy and Finance, 646-385-9008, simon.harnest@cellectis.com

Excerpt from:
Cellectis: An Expert Review on Allogeneic CAR-T for Cancer Published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - Yahoo Finance

Immunology

RootPath Raises $11 Million Series A to Accelerate Clinical Translation of its Proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform – PRNewswire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --RootPath, a preclinical-stage biotechnology company aiming to enable personalized, highly-potent T cell therapy powered by its proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform, today announced a $11 million Series A funding round. New investors include Oriza Seed with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital China, Volcanics Venture, BV (Baidu Ventures) and Nest.Bio Ventures. The company will use the Series A proceeds to validate its tumor-reactive T cell receptor (TCR) discovery workflow, select a lead therapeutic candidate, demonstrate its safety and efficacy in preclinical models and begin IND-enabling development activities.

Launched in 2017 by Nest.Bio Ventures, RootPath has developed a suite of proprietary technologies that comprise its Synthetic Immunology Platform to rapidly and inexpensively recreate T cell immune repertoires and to emulate their antigen-driven selection process in vitro. The Synthetic Immunology Platform centers on the rapid and ultrahigh-throughput generation and functional selection of TCRs, and forms the basis of the personalized T cell therapy that RootPath is advancing. The company had previously announced a $7 M seed round in 2018 led by Sequoia Capital China.

Cell therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapies have delivered notable successes in hematological malignancies. "The hurdle to achieving effective cell therapies for solid tumors has been identifying safe and effective tumor-reactive agents for these T cells, either as CAR or TCR," said Xi Chen, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO. "Because of the way T cells recognize tumors, discovering tumor-reactive agents for each individual patient or each sub-population of patients has been economically infeasible using existing technologies. This is why we spent the past two years developing our proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform, which takes advantage of many breakthroughs in synthetic biology and overcomes many intrinsic challenges in immunology-oriented research and drug discovery."

"We are excited to have the support from our new and existing investors to move from technology development to therapeutic translation of our platform," Chen continued.

"Solid tumors are substantially more challenging than hematological malignancies, but, at the same time, represent a more attractive and valuable market," said Grace Yang, Partner of Oriza Seed. "The unique approach RootPath takes effectively creates T cells armed with more targeted weapons, which should translate to increased efficacy and reduced toxicity to patients. We are confident in the Synthetic Immunology Platform, and look forward its clinical translation as well as synergy with potential product candidates from other companies in our existing immuno-oncology portfolio."

About RootPathRootPath is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering personalized immunotherapy and cell therapy for solid tumors using its proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform. RootPath was launched by Nest.Bio Ventures in 2017 and has raised $18M in seed and Series A financing. RootPath is located in Cambridge, MA with additional research activities at two sites in China.

SOURCE RootPath

https://www.rootpath.com

Here is the original post:
RootPath Raises $11 Million Series A to Accelerate Clinical Translation of its Proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform - PRNewswire

Immunology

Working Together To Drug the Undruggable – Technology Networks

PhoreMost, a UK-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to drugging undruggable disease targets, has announced that it has entered into a multi-project drug discovery collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceutical company developing therapies for diseases with unsatisfactory treatments. Under the terms of the agreement, PhoreMost will receive an upfront payment and research funding together with downstream success-based milestones.

PhoreMost will deploy its next-generation phenotypic screening platform, SITESEEKER, towards disease-relevant pathways nominated by Boehringer Ingelheim. Novel targets identified will be further validated and characterized by Boehringer Ingelheim as part of its internal Discovery Research pipeline. Boehringer Ingelheims Research programme is active in the fields of immunology and respiratory diseases, cardiometabolic diseases, oncology research and immuno-oncology, as well as diseases of the central nervous system.

The SITESEEKER platform is based on PhoreMosts core proprietary protein interference, or PROTEINi, technology. Using SITESEEKER, PhoreMost probes the entire proteome in a live cell environment for novel druggable targets linked to any chosen disease, using the vast 3-D shape diversity of natural protein fragment (sub-domain) libraries. This enables the systematic unmasking of cryptic druggable sites, directly linking them to useful therapeutic functions.

Read the original here:
Working Together To Drug the Undruggable - Technology Networks

Immunology

RAPT Therapeutics to Present at the 38th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference – BioSpace

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RAPT Therapeutics, Inc.,(Nasdaq: RAPT), a clinical-stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical companyfocused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases, today announced that Brian Wong, M.D., Ph.D., its President and CEO, will present a corporate update and company overview at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Thursday, January 16th at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time in San Francisco.

A live webcast and audio archive of the presentation may be accessed on the RAPT Therapeutics website athttps://investors.rapt.com/events-and-presentations. Please connect to the website 10 minutes prior to the presentation to ensure adequate time for any software downloads that may be necessary to listen to the webcast.

AboutRAPT Therapeutics, Inc.RAPT Therapeuticsis a clinical stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases. Utilizing its proprietary discovery and development engine, the Company rapidly develops highly selective small molecules designed to modulate the critical immune drivers underlying these diseases. RAPT has a diversified portfolio with near-term clinical milestones expected in 2020. RAPT has discovered and advanced two unique drug candidates, FLX475 and RPT193, each targeting C-C motif chemokine receptor 4, for the treatment of cancer and inflammation, respectively. The Company is also pursuing a range of targets, including general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) and hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1), that are in the discovery stage of development.

Media Contact:Angela Bittingmedia@rapt.com(925) 202-6211

Investor Contact:Sylvia Wheelerswheeler@wheelhouselsa.com

Originally posted here:
RAPT Therapeutics to Present at the 38th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference - BioSpace

Immunology

Molecular mechanism suggests new ways to bolster immunity to deadly rotavirus: U of T researchers – News@UofT

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered how a brief disruption to a molecular pathway in the guts of mice before they are born can compromise immunity in adulthood to a common and often deadly intestinal virus.

The researchers found that in utero inhibition of molecular signalling in the lymphotoxin pathway, long known as important in the development of the immune system, prevented a robust antibody response in adult mice to rotavirus. In humans, rotavirus causes an estimated 215,000 deaths annually, mostly in the developing world.

That early disruption limits the ability of the immune system to later trigger and generate production of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies, the researchers showed. It also interferes with the nature and function of cells in the gut that support the antibody response, called mesenteric lymph node stromal cells.The research was recently published in the journal Science Immunology.

It was surprising that these non-immune stromal cells were so important to the immune response, saysJennifer Gommerman, a professor ofimmunologyin U of Ts Faculty of Medicine and principal investigator on the study.

It turns out that stromal cells affect the ability of immune B cells to produce IgA that neutralizes rotavirus. Were just beginning to understand the influence these stromal cells can have.

Gommerman says the findings highlight the growing importance of research on the environment in which immune cells function. We typically think of a lymph node as just a bag of lymphocytes, but there is also this supporting structure that clearly has an active role in shaping immunity.

The studys first author, post-doctoral researcherConglei Li, identified a broad subset of stromal cells that affect the immune response to rotavirus. But the key players are likely a subset of that subset, Gommerman says. New technology known as single-cell RNA sequencing should soon enable researchers to identify many more of those cells, she adds.

That work could, in turn, lead to a better understanding of the genetic and environmental factors that may undermine immunity to rotavirus in the developing world, where rotavirus vaccines are much less effective than in high-resource settings.

Gommerman says that while several dysfunctions in the immune system likely contribute to reduced immunity to rotavirus in low-income countries, the current study offers a hint that prevention may be possible.

The thinking would be that if youre pregnant in a resource-depleted area, you may take a dietary supplement at a specific point to ensure proper development of tissues that support immunity, and which enable a vaccine to be more effective, she says.

That kind of intervention is likely a long way off, adds Gommerman, and replicating her results in human pregnancy presents obvious ethical problems. A more immediate next step for her lab is a collaborative study on IgA immune responses to other pathogens such as norovirus, another highly contagious disease.

A focus on single pathogens is useful in studies of IgA, according to Gommerman, because so many factors can influence IgA response. If you simplify the system of study, you get more predictable kinetics and can ask more discrete questions, she says. Weve made a contribution with that approachon a question that has been percolating in several labs for years. That feels good.

The research received support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

View original post here:
Molecular mechanism suggests new ways to bolster immunity to deadly rotavirus: U of T researchers - News@UofT