HK inno.N said Tuesday that it has discovered next-generation immune-cancer antibodies in collaboration with Y Biologics. It added that the two companies would use this discovery to expand their research portfolio in antibody treatments and cell therapies such as CAR-T and CAR-NK.
Antibodies are proteins that combine with antigens from outside the human body to remove antigens or interfere with their actions. However, antibody drugs are protein antigens involved in the immune cell signal transmission system or recombinant biopharmaceuticals made by improving proteins in the human body by creating antibodies to target labeling factors expressed on the surface of cancer cells.
Cell therapy kills cancer cells by improving the patient's cells to match the treatment and injecting them into the patient again.
The immuno-cancer antibody (pipeline name: IN-B005) discovered by HK inno.N suppresses the activity of HLA-G, an immune gateway factor involved in the immune response in our body so that the normal immune system is operated, it said.
HK inno.N started developing cell therapies alongside antibody treatments that work effectively in solid cancer using recently discovered immuno-cancer antibodies. They also completed an antibody patent application with Y Biologics and a separate cell therapy patent application on its own.
"We expect the successful commercialization of next-generation immuno-cancer antibodies to improve the therapeutic effect of cancer patients who do not respond to existing immune checkpoint inhibitors," said Won Seong-yong, director of HK inno.N Bio Research Institute, “On the other hand, immune gate factors, including HLA-G, disrupt the and prevent immune cells from functioning properly if they are excessively expressed in cancer cells, resulting in poor treatment.”
Consequently, immuno-cancer drugs that inhibit the activities of various immuno-gate factors are being released or developed worldwide, Won added. Among them, HK inno.N’s immune anticancer antibody HLA-G is attracting attention as an alternative target for tumors that do not respond to existing immuno-cancer drugs.