ImmunoCellular Therapeutics options immunotherapy targeting CSCs using abnormal Notch and Numb pathways

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC) (IMUC), a biotechnology company that is focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, announced today that it has entered into an option agreement with The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center relating to an immunotherapy targeting cancer stem cells (CSCs) which has demonstrated in pre-clinical animal models significant abilities to target and destroy CSCs. This latest agreement bolsters the Company’s portfolio of technologies targeting CSCs. This portfolio already features several promising therapies, including ICT-107, a dendritic cell based immunotherapy that recently completed a phase I study, and ICT-121, an off-the-shelf peptide targeting CSCs.

The technology being optioned from M. D. Anderson is an immunotherapy targeting cancer stem cells using abnormal Notch and Numb pathways, two mechanisms implicated in many common solid tumors including breast, colon and ovarian cancers. Research indicates that cytotoxic T cells induced by these peptides preferentially target cancer stem cells derived from breast cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer; expression of these peptides has been demonstrated on clinical samples from ovarian cancer patients. The therapy was developed at M. D. Anderson by Dr. Constantin G. Ioannides and Satoko Matsueda. Dr. Ioannides is also credited, along with others, with the development of the E75 peptide targeting Her-2/neu, which has been tested in a phase II study to prevent breast cancer recurrence.

“This latest addition to our portfolio of CSC targeting therapies should serve to further increase our ability to specifically identify and destroy these important tumor building blocks by targeting additional pathways that were not addressed by our current portfolio,” remarked Manish Singh, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of IMUC. “By acquiring rights to this previously unaddressed pathway, we are now well positioned to continue development of a therapy that will enhance our ability to target these important cells, which we believe may lead to more effective and better tolerated treatments that are capable of targeting a number of different tumor types.”