CAMBRIDGE, England, May 14, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Alchemab Therapeutics (Alchemab), an
antibody discovery company identifying naturally occurring
antibodies from individuals resilient to disease, today announces
the publication of a peer reviewed article titled "Predictability
of B cell clonal persistence and immunosurveillance in breast
cancer" in the journal Nature Immunology. The senior
author Rachael Bashford-Rogers is a
co-founder of Alchemab and the paper was a collaboration between
the Cancer Dynamics Group at The Institute of Cancer Research,
London, (ICR), the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and Alchemab.
Alchemab is building a broad pipeline of protective therapeutics
for hard-to-treat diseases, with an initial focus on
neurodegenerative conditions and oncology. The Company has
developed a highly differentiated platform which enables the
identification of novel drug targets and therapeutics by analysis
of patient antibody repertoires. The platform uses well-defined
patient samples, deep B cell sequencing, and computational analysis
to identify convergent protective antibody responses among
individuals that are susceptible but resilient to specific
diseases.
In cancer, Alchemab focuses on identifying antibodies from
patients with certain solid tumors who are long-term survivors of
the disease. In preliminary work, Alchemab has identified
antibodies associated with checkpoint inhibition, angiogenesis, and
cytokine modulation in cancer survivors. The opportunity to
identify novel antibodies and targets associated with cancer
survivors represents a unique approach to therapeutic development
in oncology.
Jane Osbourn OBE, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of
Alchemab, said: "Immunotherapies have transformed the outlook
for a range of different cancers but, unfortunately, they still
only work for a minority of patients. We are making great strides
in our understanding of the role of B cells in the adaptive immune
system, but if we are to develop broader and better
immunotherapies, overcoming limitations of existing treatments, we
need a deeper understanding of how they interact with cancer as it
grows and spreads. This paper has given us an important perspective
on the role that B cells play in the immune response to cancer and
that will help us to develop improved therapies to treat these
deadly diseases."
A comprehensive analysis of breast cancer immunosurveillance in
biopsy tissue from metastatic and early breast cancer patients was
performed in the study. By integrating B Cell Receptor (BCR), T
Cell Receptor (TCR), DNA and RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data from
patients with multiple metastatic tumor sites, and during
neoadjuvant (chemo) therapy in early disease patients, clones were
tracked and characterized that were persistent over time throughout
therapy and across metastatic sites. Results showed that both B
cell and T cell responses in each patient seem to coevolve with the
metastatic cancer genomes and mirror the tumor mutational and
neoantigen architecture. B cell clones associated with metastatic
immunosurveillance and temporal persistence were more expanded and
distinct from B cell clones found in single metastatic sites. B
cell clonal immunosurveillance and temporal persistence are
predictable based on the deep sequence analysis, which enables
assessment of clonal relatedness. This predictability was
generalizable across other immune-mediated disorders.
This work helps lay a foundation for Alchemab to prioritize
antibody sequences for therapeutic targeting in cancer and immune
disorders.
About Alchemab
Alchemab studies the unique antibody
response of resilient individuals to develop drugs based on
naturally derived antibodies to prevalent, hard-to-treat diseases
which do not have disease modifying therapies. Alchemab's platform
integrates data mining of patient-derived immune responses with the
latest multi-disciplinary drug discovery approaches to understand
what keeps people well. The goal is to unlock nature's engineering
and harness the incredible human immune system to find breakthrough
drugs.
Alchemab's highly experienced team has broad expertise and
capabilities across discovery and development. Through
collaborations with world class institutions, Alchemab taps into
large ecosystems and millions of patient samples which it analyzes
using advanced computational approaches.
Alchemab is headquartered in London,
UK with labs in Cambridge,
UK and Boston, US.
For more information, visit www.alchemab.com/.
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SOURCE Alchemab Therapeutics