CAR-T Pipeline Update: Autolus Therapeutics Presents Preclinical Data on AUT06NG

Autolus Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer, presented pre-clinical data on AUTO6NG, the company’s next-generation GD2-targeting CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cell therapy, at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).

What did the results highlight: The results demonstrated the utility of three modules added to the clinically active and validated AUTO6 GD-2 targeting CAR that not only improves CAR T persistence but also combats the immunosuppressive environment.

What is AUTO6NG: AUTO6NG is a next-generation programmed T cell product candidate in pre-clinical development.  AUTO6NG builds on preliminary proof of concept data from AUTO6, a CAR in clinical development for the treatment of neuroblastoma, which can target GD2-expressing cancers with a chimeric antigen receptor.  AUTO6NG incorporates additional cell programming modules to augment its functions by extending persistence and rendering modified T-cells resistant to immune inhibition.  With the enhanced properties of AUTO6NG, it may be suitable for the treatment of GD2-expressing solid tumors, including neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, melanoma, small cell lung cancer, and soft tissue sarcoma.

What is GD2: GD2 is a glycolipid that is most commonly expressed in the majority of neuroblastoma tumors, thus representing a good diagnostic marker and therapeutic target. It is present on a variety of solid tumors in addition to neuroblastoma, including osteosarcoma, retinoblastoma, some soft tissue sarcomas, brain tumors, mesenchymal stem cells, and cancer stem cells.

How popular is GD2 in the CAR-T pipeline: GD2 is the second most popular target of CAR-T therapies being developed for solid tumors. Presently, close to 20 GD2 targeting CAR-T therapies are in clinical development for the treatment of various solid tumors, including neuroblastoma, glioma, cervical cancer, sarcoma, osteosarcoma, and melanoma. Here is the distribution of the T-cell therapies pipeline by targets:

For more insights about the T-Cell therapies market, check out the report here.