A new combination of drugs used to treat breast cancer, developed by researchers at the Centre for Cancer Immunology, has shown to be safe for patients and improves how well treatment works.
The Phase 1/2a trial, which is a human clinical trial of a product as a single agent or in combination for any indication, in this case the treatment of breast cancer, led by BioInvent International, a clinical-stage company that discovers and develops antibodies for cancer therapy, is testing a new antibody (BI-1607) along with trastuzumab, which is a group of targeted therapy drugs called monoclonal antibodies. The early results were shared at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and showed that the treatment was safe. No serious side effects were linked to BI-1607, and six out of eleven patients who had not responded to previous treatment with trastuzumab showed stable disease, which indicates a tumour that is neither growing nor shrinking.
The research from Southampton that helped create BI-1607 has been going on for over ten years. Since starting to work with BioInvent International in 2009, researchers led by Professor Mark Cragg and Associate Professor Ali Roghanian at the Centre, along with Professor Björn Frendéus from BioInvent, discovered that an antibody called BI-1206 could target an immune receptor called FcgRIIB. This helped overcome resistance in certain blood cancers.
BI-1206 works by drawing immune cells towards the tumour and blocking the immune system’s ability to stop the attack. When used with other cancer drugs like rituximab, BI-1206 overcomes some of the problems other treatments face, like getting absorbed by the tumour.
After successful lab studies, Professor Andrew Davies at the University of Southampton led the first human trials of BI-1206. These were funded by Blood Cancer UK and BioInvent International and aimed to find out how much of the drug could be safely given to people, both alone and with rituximab.
Ongoing studies are also testing BI-1206 with rituximab for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
The Southampton team, together with BioInvent, has now shown that targeting the FcgRIIB receptor can help improve immunotherapy for solid tumours using another antibody, BI-1607. Like BI-1206, BI-1607 is designed to improve the effectiveness of cancer treatments like trastuzumab.
Professor Roghanian said: “Southampton has a strong history of turning lab research into real treatments, and it’s exciting to see our work helping cancer patients. It’s rewarding to see patients who don’t respond to other treatments getting better results with this new approach.”
Professor Cragg added: “This progress has only been possible because of our long partnership with BioInvent. Developing new drugs and treatments is difficult, and having strong partners is key to making it happen.”