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Nektar Therapeutics Presents Preclinical Data from Novel PEGylated Interferon Gamma Program, NKTR-288, at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting
NKTR-288 upregulated MHC Class I and PD-L1 expression on tumors, enhancing anti-tumor activity when combined with anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies SAN
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[{"type":"text","content":"NKTR-288 upregulated MHC Class I and PD-L1 expression on tumors, enhancing anti-tumor activity when combined with anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies\nSAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) today announced the first presentation of preclinical data for NKTR-288 at the 2022 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nNKTR-288 is a novel polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugate of interferon gamma (IFN-γ), designed to modify binding of IFN-γ to its substrates and optimize the duration of IFN-γ signaling. IFN-γ is a cytokine that induces cellular antigen presentation and enhances tumor antigen-specific cytotoxic T cell response, and may have applications in a number of therapeutic areas, including oncology and infectious diseases, among others.\nThe presentation today showed the sustained pharmacological properties of NKTR-288 relative to native cytokine, including durable exposure and induction of the well characterized interferon gamma response. These data support further evaluation of NKTR-288 as a monotherapy or in combination with checkpoint inhibitors in the clinical setting.\n\"The results presented at SITC clearly demonstrate that NKTR-288 has differentiated pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties compared to native IFN-γ, leading to durable in vivo anti-tumor activity in preclinical models,\" said Jonathan Zalevsky, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Research & Development Officer at Nektar. \"Particularly promising were data that show NKTR-288 upregulates PD-L1 expression in tumor tissue, supporting potential combination therapy with checkpoint inhibitors by enhancing checkpoint blockade efficacy in low-MHC Class I 'cold' tumor models. It highlights the potential of NKTR-288 to augment currently available PD-1 or PD-L1 treatment strategies and possibly broaden the responsive patient population.\"\nAlso presented at SITC by Nektar's partner, Merck KGaA, is a trials in progress poster of the Phase 2 JAVELIN Bladder Medley study (NCT05327530). The ongoing clinical trial includes evaluation of BAVENCIO® (avelumab), Merck's anti-PD-L1 therapy, in combination with NKTR-255, Nektar's IL-15 receptor agonist designed to increase the proliferation and survival of natural killer (NK) cells and memory CD8+ T cells to enhance anti-tumor immunity. Me...