Innate Pharma announces publication of a review article in Nature

• The authors present an updated version of The Cancer-Immunity Cycle¹, the current intellectual framework for immuno-oncology research and development

• Article covers the mechanisms by which innate immune cells exert central direct and indirect anti-tumor functions

• Discusses next generation immunotherapies that target innate immunity and show strong preclinical data or promising signals in early clinical trials

Innate Pharma SA (the “Company” - Euronext Paris: FR0010331421 – IPH) today announced the publication of a Nature review article, “Harnessing Innate Immunity in Cancer Therapy,” authored by Innate Pharma scientists in partnership with other leading scientists.  The review article focuses on cancer-immune interactions that now place innate immune cells as critical players in the fight against cancers².

Relying on T-cell responses only, the first generation of cancer immunotherapies have led to an unprecedented change in the treatment paradigm of many cancers, but these treatments still fail many cancer patients. The advances in scientific and medical understanding of anti-tumor innate immunity has led the authors of this review to revisit The Cancer-Immune Cycle, underlining the need to move away from a T-cell-centric view of immuno-oncology in order to expand the benefits of immunotherapy to more cancer types and patients.

“Substantial preclinical and clinical data have been generated over the past decade, supporting the central role of innate immunity in anti-tumor response and offering many therapeutic avenues to target innate immune cells,” commented Prof. Eric Vivier, Senior Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer of Innate Pharma, and lead author of the review. “Given that innate immunity is central to Innate Pharma, we felt it was important to integrate this concept into The Cancer-Immunity Cycle, the leading reference framework for immuno-oncology research and development. We are excited to be part of this initiative, and ultimately, the scientific ambition of bringing next generation immunotherapies to the oncology community.”

In summary, the review article highlights the following:

• Provides an extensive overview of the multiple mechanisms by which innate immunity acts in the anti-tumor immune response, discussing strategies undertaken to target innate immune cell functions
• Reviews potentially promising molecules in preclinical and early clinical development, including multifunctional antibodies that co-engage innate immune cells and tumor antigens, or the novel class of broad-spectrum immune checkpoint inhibitors that simultaneously act on innate immune cells (NK or myeloid cells) and T-cells to modulate both the innate and adaptive responses in The Cancer-Immunity Cycle.

To read the review in full, please visit the October 2 online issue of Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1593-5.

References

¹    Daniel S. Chen, D. S. & Ira Mellman. Oncology meets immunology: the cancer-immunity cycle. Immunity 39, 1–10 (2013).

²    Olivier Demaria, Stéphanie Cornen, Marc Daëron, Yannis Morel, Ruslan Medzhitov & Eric Vivier. Harnessing Innate Immunity in Cancer Therapy. Nature, October 2^nd, 2019.