South Korea-based startup Boostimmune has secured a Japanese patent covering technology that uses antibodies to inhibit the function of translationally controlled tumour protein (TCTP) released from dead tumour cells, thereby suppressing the accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the tumour microenvironment.
The granted claims are not expressly limited to the individual complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) or amino acid sequences of a specific antibody. Instead, they functionally define an anti-TCTP antibody that inhibits the activity of TCTP released from dead tumor cells and suppresses MDSC accumulation in the tumour microenvironment. The claims also cover inhibition of polymorphonuclear MDSC (PMN-MDSC) accumulation and cancer therapeutics or therapeutic compositions containing the inhibitor as an active ingredient.
Through this patent, Boostimmune has strengthened its intellectual property position in Japan not only for its proprietary BIO101 antibody candidate, but also for the development of therapeutics that modulate the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment through the claimed TCTP-targeting mechanism.
BIO101 is a novel immuno-oncology programme designed to regulate MDSCs, one of the major immunosuppressive cell populations in the tumour microenvironment.
