[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] STCube, a bio company developing immune checkpoint inhibitors, announced on the 12th that it presented preclinical data on the first-in-class antibody ‘hSTC810’ targeting a novel immune checkpoint molecule ‘BTN1A1’ at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
At the AACR poster session held from the 10th (local time in the U.S.), STCube unveiled the innovative drug target ‘BTN1A1’ (BTN1A1: A Novel Immune Checkpoint For Cancer Immunotherapy Beyond The PD-1/PD-L1 Axis). The newly revealed ‘anti-BTN1A1 antibody hSTC810’ is a therapeutic agent independently developed by STCube through the immune checkpoint molecule ‘BTN1A1’, which is expected to provide a groundbreaking treatment method for cancer patients.
An STCube official stated that the characteristics of ‘BTN1A1’ were disclosed for the first time worldwide through their proprietary screening program. According to the research results, ‘BTN1A1’ is an immune checkpoint protein that suppresses CD8 T cell proliferation and promotes tumor growth in CD8+ T cells.
‘BTN1A1’ showed a high expression rate in solid tumors that respond poorly to currently marketed immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1/PD-L1. Using an IHC antibody developed in-house by STCube, ‘BTN1A1’ was highly expressed in tumor cells of non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer. Notably, ovarian cancer, which is known to have almost no PD-L1 expression, showed a high expression rate of 56.1% for ‘BTN1A1’.
According to a company representative, the remarkably high expression rate compared to existing immune checkpoint inhibitors suggests new possibilities in the immune checkpoint inhibitor market. Furthermore, when observing the expression of ‘BTN1A1’ and PD-L1 through multiplex spectral staining, mutually exclusive expression patterns were confirmed. This indicates that ‘BTN1A1’ is an immune checkpoint therapy completely different from the existing PD-1/PD-L1 pathway.
An STCube official said, “It appears to be a therapeutic agent that can show new potential when administered as monotherapy to patients who have failed treatment with existing immune checkpoint inhibitors such as Keytruda,” adding, “The efficacy of combination therapy with existing immune checkpoint inhibitors is also expected, so synergy is anticipated.”
Meanwhile, STCube’s ‘hSTC810’ antibody aims to enter global clinical trials after obtaining FDA clinical approval in the U.S. in the second half of this year.
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