PHILADELPHIA, PA — Emerging from the recent ASGCT 27th Annual Meeting, Century Therapeutics (NASDAQ: IPSC) has caught the attention of the medical world. The company revealed its innovative Allo-Evasion™ platform, alongside exciting data pertaining to their lead candidate, CNTY-101. This novel technology and the potential treatment it offers for B-cell driven autoimmune diseases, including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), signify a major leap in scientific advancement.
Hy Levitsky, M.D., President of Research and Development at Century Therapeutics, acknowledges the significance of these developments: “Our Allo-Evasion™ platform enables our iPSC candidates to have a more controlled, durable and tolerable profile, essentially enhancing the cell therapies currently in development to treat autoimmune disease.”
CNTY-101, as an allogeneic iPSC-derived NK cell therapy engineered using Allo-Evasion™ editors, targets and eliminates harmful CD19+ B-cells, while providing a more enduring and sustainable therapy with lesser inflammation post-treatment.
Currently, the CNTY-101 is being tested on patients with B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and its transformative implications promise a revolutionary change, making trials on SLE patients imminent. Early clinical experience with this iPSC-derived NK cell underscores its potential for controlled drug exposure and enabling B-cell depletion without prolonged B-cell aplasia.
Furthermore, the Allo-Evasion™ platform continues to offer fresh avenues for discovery. Particularly noteworthy is the preclinical data showcasing a synthetic ligand to CD300a, capable of inhibiting natural killer (NK) cell reactivity. This is a major breakthrough as CD300a is a potent inhibitory receptor found in almost all NK cells tested across several population samples.
The persistent challenge in biotherapy has been the host’s immune-mediated rejection of allogeneic T cell therapies. In its race for universal protection against NK cell response, Century seems to be inching closer to a breakthrough.
Trans antigen signaling receptors (TASRs), synthetic ligands capable of agonizing the inhibitory receptor CD300a, are paving the way. The collaborative assessment of a CD300a TASR on T cells revealed its potential to effectively combat NK mediated killing and enhance CAR-T cell efficacy under allogeneic pressure.
Notably, over half of our population, who happen to be CMV-seropositive donors, expressed resistance to HLA-E mediated inhibition, while cells expressing CD300a TASR are protected. This outcome hints at a broader population potentially benefiting from the next-generation allogeneic cell therapies.
This capability of an engineered CD300a agonist acting as a universal deterrent against NK cell reactivity could be a game-changer. CD300a TASR might just be the solution we’ve been looking for, alleviating a major constraint against the extensive use of allogeneic cell therapies – which have potential in treating hematologic malignancies, cancer, autoimmunity and more.
This is a strong validation for the functionality of Century’s Allo-Evasion™ platform, designed for cells that can sidestep detection and destruction by the host immune system. It not only allows for repeat dosing of CAR-modified cell therapies but also facilitates durable responses across autoimmune and inflammatory diseases as well as hematologic and solid tumors.
While it is still early days, these developments at Century Therapeutics hold the promise of a revolution in our fight against autoimmune diseases and cancers. It serves as a beacon of hope, reaching out to millions awaiting a solution. The potential implications of these advancements are a testament to the limitless possibilities and the versatile adaptability of scientific innovation.
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