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NextCure Announces Development of a Highly Specific Immunohistochemical Diagnostic for Siglec-15-positive Tumors as reported in Laboratory Investigation
BELTSVILLE, Md., July 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NextCure, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering and
About this update from Nextcure, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"BELTSVILLE, Md., July 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NextCure, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering and developing novel, first-in-class immunomedicines to treat cancer and other immune-related diseases, today announced the publication of a paper titled “Development of an Immunohistochemical Assay for Siglec-15” in Laboratory Investigation. The publication outlines data from a study, conducted in collaboration with researchers in the Department of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine, utilizing a newly developed antibody to Siglec-15 (S15) and an immunhistochemical (IHC) assay to investigate S15 expression in solid tumors. “The data resulting from our study with Yale support NextCure’s focus on targeting S15, an immunosuppressive protein expressed in a wide variety of cancer types,” said Sol Langermann, Ph.D., NextCure’s chief scientific officer. “We believe that these data support our work developing therapeutic candidates like NC318, which target S15 to restore immune cell function and anti-tumor responses in patients with cancer. We look forward to continuing the evaluation of our S15-targeted candidate, NC318.” Data from the current study show the creation and validation of an IHC assay for detecting S15 in tumor samples. The IHC assay was created with a novel S15 monoclonal antibody that recognizes a unique cytoplasmic domain of the protein. A scoring system was generated for the assay that had high concordance amongst pathologists. The IHC assay was used for a study involving two cohorts of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) where high levels of S15 staining were shown on both tumor cells and immune cells. S15 expression was also shown to be predominantly mutually exclusive of PD-L1 expression. Expression of S15 on NSCLC supports clinical trials evaluating therapeutics targeting S15 and highlights the importance of patient selection in the ongoing NC318 clinical trial. About NC318NC318 is a first-in-class immunomedicine against Siglec-15 (S15), a novel immunomodulatory target found on highly immunosuppressive cells called M2 macrophages in the tumor microenvironment and on certain tumor types including lung, ovarian and head and neck cancers. In preclinical research, it was observed that S15 promoted the survival and differentiation of suppressive myeloid cells and negative...