STCube Announces Additional Research Findings on ‘BTN1A1’ Accepted at American and European Cancer Societies

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] STCube, a bio company developing immune checkpoint inhibitors, announced on the 15th that it will present research results on its newly discovered immune checkpoint protein ‘BTN1A1’, which is scheduled to enter global clinical trials, at the ‘2021 AACR-NCI-EORTC’ held online from October 7 to 10.

The ‘AACR-NCI-EORTC’ conference that STCube is attending this time is a regular academic event jointly hosted by the three most prestigious cancer research institutions in the world: the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). It is regarded as the most influential conference in the field of cancer treatment. In April, STCube attended ‘AACR 2021’ and presented research results on the new immune checkpoint protein ‘BTN1A1’, which attracted significant interest from global pharmaceutical companies.

‘BTN1A1’, the immune checkpoint inhibitor target first discovered by STCube in the world, is an immune checkpoint protein that suppresses the proliferation of immune cells called T cells and inhibits the tumor cell death effect caused by T cells. Unlike existing immune checkpoint inhibitor targets such as ‘PD-1’ and ‘PD-L1’, it was found that ‘BTN1A1’ is a completely new immune checkpoint inhibitor that is expressed in up to 80% of various cancer cells while its expression is limited in normal tissue cells.

At this conference, STCube plans to present additional research results on proteins that bind to ‘BTN1A1’, which have not been previously known. STCube was the first in the world to discover that ‘BTN1A1’ binds to Gal-9 and confirmed that when ‘BTN1A1’ binds to Gal-9, it suppresses the activation of T cells.

They also confirmed the formation of a complex in which BTN1A1-Gal-9-PD-1 binds mediated by Gal-9. Since there are reports that high expression of Gal-9 in cancer patients is associated with poor prognosis, it is expected that the development of a new immune checkpoint inhibitor based on the BTN1A1-Gal-9-PD-1 complex will be possible.

In July, STCube obtained positive results in the non-human primate toxicity test, the final and most important experiment of preclinical trials, for the ‘hSTC810’ antibody targeting ‘BTN1A1’, and the final results showed no abnormal signs in all safety tests.

A company official said, “We received much interest and positive responses for the hSTC810 antibody targeting ‘BTN1A1’ by participating in the AACR in April and the BIO USA conference in June,” adding, “We plan to create good opportunities with global pharmaceutical companies through continuous participation in academic conferences and paper presentations, as well as the upcoming presentation at ‘AACR-NCI-EORTC’ and the start of clinical trials.”